The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Four people hold up a bank, but the cops have been tipped off and arrive in seconds. A shoot out ensues and the surviving robbers are forced into a local café, where they take hostages. Two of their hostages turn out to be armed gang bangers, who turn the tables on the bank robbers, making them hostages as well. It was a pretty good opening, but from there it descends into your typical, slow moving, hostage drama, with paranoid cops, scared hostages, and unreasonable demands. Edward Furlong stars in this HBO thriller, and continues to be one of my favorite actors. He is so unappreciated and disrespected in Hollywood, because he was a child actor and will forever be known as that cute kid in Terminator 2. His Co-star is Michael Madsen is by far the worst actor I have ever seen. The guy thinks he's John Wayne, but the second he tries to show any emotion, people start laughing, because he is really that unbelievable. Madsen brings down the credibility of everything he is in, which makes me wonder how this guy continues to get work. Living & Dying has a great opening and an interesting ending, but unfortunately the middle is just about as boring and predictable as a movie can get.

Modern day Bonnie and Clyde try to make a run for it with the loot but get into a gun battle with the police, who were either poor shots or were using blanks. Whoops, Bonnie took a round in the gut! The robbers retreat to a café, and now Bonnie was near death. Luckily, a person (now a hostage) in the café had trained as a nurse, and performed emergency surgery then and there on the floor. Bonnie of course passed out from shock, blood loss, whatever - and the young nursing school dropout proclaimed: "She's gonna be alright! She's just passed out". Bonnie makes a miraculous recovery in a matter of minutes which is good because she is going to have to battle two psychopaths who were also hostages in the café, but now want all the stolen money, and to kill and or rape all the other hostages. WHAT A STUPID STORY. Michael Madsen made a mistake by being in the film. It was decided that Madsen's character would send a female TV reporter into the café because the murderous psychopaths inside demanded it. Hey wait a second, she'll get shot! "She's too pretty to shoot" was Madsen's line that made me laugh out loud. The reporter was raped then killed...I gave this film 2 stars because there is the possibility that there is a worse film out there somewhere. This film will make you laugh out loud, slap your forehead, and say things like "jeeze", "oh man", "WHAT??", etc., etc. If it were meant to be a comedy, I'd give this film 4 stars.

This film is terrible. You don't really need to read this review further. If you are planning on watching it, suffice to say - don't (unless you are studying how not to make a good movie).The acting is horrendous... serious amateur hour. Throughout the movie I thought that it was interesting that they found someone who speaks and looks like Michael Madsen, only to find out that it is actually him! A new low even for him!!The plot is terrible. People who claim that it is original or good have probably never seen a decent movie before. Even by the standard of Hollywood action flicks, this is a terrible movie.Don't watch it!!! Go for a jog instead - at least you won't feel like killing yourself.

Assuming this won't end up a straight-to-video release, I would have to say void this title at all costs. Unless you're bored of good, well-executed movies, that is. I saw this last night at AFI Dallas, and I left with 20 minutes remaining, simply because I didn't care anymore (about the plot, not about insulting the director...that is awkward). When you can spot a goof only 5 minutes into the movie (a shot out, shattered window before any shots are fired...and then the window breaks with the first shot), things are going to bad. Let's just say this is only an indicator of things to come...unfortunately.I'll spare you all the details, but this is sub-par in every manner, even the half-assed acting by Michael Madsen is disappointing when you're expecting half-assed acting from him. And the rape scene...Christ! "Shut up and take it" should never be used in a rape scene. EVER.3/10