Fresh and Exciting

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I mean this literally. I realized when I started to watch this that I had already seen it several months ago yet I couldn't remember a thing about it. The first question you have to ask when you see a period piece movie is do they really need to set the film in this era. I don't get it for this movie; there' no time like the present.There were way too many personal angles to be addressed in a two hour movie (it felt like a lot more). If you want to tell this kind of story you should do it on TV. This is only my opinion but trying to make a movie that's supposedly all about acting is a huge mistake if your story is weak. This is especially true when Clive Owen is part of the cast as he's pretty thin on talent.The only reason that I am writing this review is so that I won't try to watch this a third time.

I don't get it. We are supposed to be engaged by the complex relationship and moral dilemmas of these two brothers. But most of the other reviewers (and presumably the filmmakers) don't seem to be bothered by the fact that one of them is a murderous sociopath. This is kind of a deal breaker for me in terms of empathy. And yet, the same brother chooses to spare the life of a man who is an obvious existential threat to his family. Stupid script, hackneyed premise, overstuffed soundtrack, and ridiculous casting, including two lead female actresses (Cotillard and Kunis) who look so similar as to be occasionally confusing. Amateur foreign film making masquerading as a tribute to 70's American crime drama. Viewers would do better by sticking with the real thing, for instance: Mean Streets (art); The Friends of Eddie Coyle (slick); Superfly (genuine American trash). Any of these would be a much more fulfilling and enjoyable use of 2 hours.

At first I had doubts about this movie, the story took a long to time to build its self up, but goddamn was the wait worth it.Great performance from Clive Owen, great character development, great side characters and great story pacing. This movie is very relatable as I myself have a brother with who I always fight and yet at the end of the day we would take a bullet for each other. Blood Ties will keep you wanting to find out what will happen next throughout the movie and after all that is what we want from a Drama/Thriller.Gem of a movie 8/10.

(66%) A very convincing in terms of period detail crime drama featuring a solid cast and a decent character based story that satisfies through its toe- tapping soundtrack. Clive Owen has a truly fine on-screen presence and he's really great in this, and because he and everyone else are also good, along with the few nice bits of gripping and intense action, meaning that the undebatable flaws in the script, and a couple of minor issues here and there don't really matter that much. This will likely get seen by about half as many people than it deserves, but despite that, and for Mr Clive Owen especially, this is worth a very nostalgic trip to the cinema.