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Castle: Season 3 Episode 24: Knockout -TV Review

Candace Butler — Wed, 18 May 2011 06:12:51 +0000

This week was the season finale of “Castle.” Kate Beckett’s investigation into her mother’s murder is reactivated when Lockwood escapes from a court hearing. Will they finally close Johanna Beckett’s case? Find out more in our review…

The Players:

Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Will Beall
Cast: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever, Molly C. Quinn, Susan Sullivan, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Tamala Jones, Max Martini

Episode Title: “Knockout”

Beckett visits the prison for her weekly talk with Lockhart, but finds he has been moved to the general population, where he murders another inmate. Later, Lockhart escapes during his court hearing. During the team’s hunt for Lockhart, they uncover a deeper conspiracy that involves someone in law enforcement. Castle is concerned about Beckett’s safety, resulting in an argument that leaves them separated. Meanwhile, Captain Montgomery must choose between saving the life of his family at home or his precinct family.

The Good:

The Castle/Beckett Fight: In a heated moment, Castle and Beckett argue. But they finally express their deepest concerns about their own relationship. It doesn’t end well, but we get to see them confront the issues and emotions that have previously gone unspoken.
Suspense: There were several twists and turns in the plot that, although not always believable, were extremely suspenseful. The beginning was the most intense we’ve seen on the entire series.
Family Values: the role of family is established–those who act as a family constitute family (thus, the members of the precinct are family). As such, they show each other respect and forgiveness, even when their deepest secrets threaten that familial bond.
Deadly Storm: that’s right–a graphic novel based on Castle’s Derrick Storm books will be released in September! The cover art was released on the show. Although this may mean no mystery novel in the fall from the New York Times bestseller, we’re looking forward to the graphic novel!
Cliffhanger: We knew there’d be some sort of cliffhanger until season 4, but we didn’t know it would be this interesting nor this satisfying. Without revealing any spoilers, we’ll just say the Bodyguard-esque ending was both fitting and touching.

The Weird:

Confusing Behavior #1: We’re still a little confused by the Captain’s decision to bring Beckett to the meeting place just to tell her what he wants to say seconds before her life is in danger. Why couldn’t he tell her this at a different meeting place? Or did he call Castle to pull her away because he had a change of heart?
Confusing Behavior #2: Why do Ryan and Esposito fistfight over the truth for a few minutes instead of discussing their thoughts as usual? Not that we’re arguing with Esposito’s dedication to his team/family. We did like how it showed the brotherhood between the two, and we physically saw the struggle they had accepting the truth.

The Quotable:

“We speak for the dead when the wicked rob them of their voices.” -Captain Montgomery
“I cannot make Beckett stand down, Castle. I never could. I figure the only one who can is you.” -Captain Montgomery
“I’ve been going to that prison for the past four months to have a staring contest with the devil, and the devil just blinked.” -Beckett
“For a man who makes his living working with words, you sure have a hard time finding them when they count.” -Martha
“I don’t know what we are. We kiss and then we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each others arms, but we never talk about it. So no, I got no clue what we are. I know I don’t want to see you throw your life away.” -Castle
**SPOILER ALERT*** “Don’t leave me, please. Stay with me. Okay? Kate, I love you…I Love you, Kate.” -Castle

Overall:

This week’s “Castle” was the most suspenseful episode yet with masterful plotlines, and, albeit a bit unbelievable at times, a heart-wrenching and action-packed end to an already great season.

Rating: 10/10

“Castle” airs Monday nights at 10pm on ABC.

Photo Gallery:

Agree? Disagree? Will you be tuning in for Season 4? Let us know in the comments!

Bill Paxton Replaces Dennis Quaid in Knockout

Krystal Clark — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:31:41 +0000

We should have known the cast for Steven Soderbergh‘s Knockout was too good to be true. According to The Playlist, Bill Paxton has just signed on to star in the film, which would be fine and dandy if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s replacing Dennis Quaid. A few weeks ago Quaid’s casting was announced with a whole slew of actors including Michael Douglas and Ewan McGregor, but his stint on Knockout has ended before it even began.

A source close to the Knockout camp revealed that Quaid left the project due to scheduling conflicts with another film he’s working on called Soul Surfer. It’s a biopic about the teen girl who got her arm bitten off by a shark back in 2003. The story took the nation by storm, and has apparently caught the eye of Quaid, enough so that he’s ditching Soderbergh’s film. In his place, “Big Love” star Bill Paxton will take over, and hopefully give a performance that’s not sleep inducing.

Also joining the cast is French actor, Mathieu Kassovitz but his role is unknown. The story of Knockout centers on a woman raised in the military, who left to work for a Blackwater-esque company to make better money but is betrayed by one of her teammates. There’s nothing obscenely bad about Paxton joining this film, it’s just that his acting is very hit or miss. He’s one of those actors who have a very stoic delivery, and at least we could have gotten some emotion out of Quaid.

What do you think about Paxton replacing Dennis Quaid in Knockout?

Michael Angarano Joins Soderbergh’s Knockout

Krystal Clark — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:02:16 +0000

How many people can one cast take? Steven Soderbergh is making it his business to fill his spy thriller Knockout to the brim with some of the most random people. The cast is being led by novice actor and real life fighter Gina Carano, who will be supported by several Hollywood veterans including Michael Douglas, Dennis Quaid, and Antonio Banderas. According to THR, another actor has signed onto the film and it’s Gentlemen Broncos star, Michael Angarano.

The story for Knockout centers on a woman raised in the military, who left to work for a Blackwater-esque company to make better money but is betrayed by one of her teammates. Almost all the male characters in the movie have shady dealings under their belt, so she has to watch her back at all times. The latest man to join the cast is Michael Angarano, and he’ll star as “a teen who sees Carano in trouble and decides to help, unwittingly ending up as her partner.”

The addition of his character is more of a negative than a plus when it comes to the development of the films’ story because it sounds pretty bad ass without the help of a teenybopper sidekick. Angarano is a great actor who has decent range, but if they make his character a whiny, stereotypical teen, there’s going to be a problem. It sounds like he’ll be her moral center, the one thing that keeps her human. This is a Soderbergh film, so hopefully his character will have more to offer than what we see on the surface.

What do you think of Michael Angarano joining Knockout? Do you think his character will help or harm the film?

Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas Join Knockout

Krystal Clark — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:03:34 +0000

Just when you thought the cast for Steven Soderbergh‘s action flick Knockout couldn’t get any bigger, it does. Over at The Playlist, they’re reporting that two more actors have signed on to co-star in the film that already includes Michael Douglas, Dennis Quaid, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, and newcomer Gina Carano.

The newest faces to join Knockout are G.I. Joe’s Channing Tatum and Antonio Banderas. According to the site’s sources, Tatum will star as “one of the elite specialists on Carano’s team named Aaron — a military gearhead-type who’s sent to try and bring her back in once she’s been double-crossed and gone rogue.” They go on to say that his role might be smaller and more supporting in the grand scheme of themes.

On the other hand Banderas has been brought on as a late edition to the film, where he’ll star as the head of a Black-ops European unit. The premise for Knockout centers on a woman raised in the military, who left to work for a Blackwater-esque company to make better money but is betrayed by one of her teammates. Almost all the male characters in the movie have shady dealings under their belt, so she has to watch her back at all times.

Even though Tatum won’t have a major role in Knockout, who would turn down a spot in a Soderbergh film? He had a blink and you missed it part in Michael Mann‘s Public Enemies last summer, so he shouldn’t have any objections to this gig. I’m also happy to hear Banderas taking on a role that doesn’t require him to be an animated cat. He did a lot of great action roles in the nineties, and I cant wait to see him return to his glory days. The film is set to start production in February and will shoot in Barcelona, Dublin and New Mexico.

What do you think of Tatum and Banderas joining Knockout? Do you think their good casting choices?

McGregor, Quaid, Douglas, Join Knockout

Krystal Clark — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:09:25 +0000

A while back we brought you news about Steven Soderbergh‘s upcoming femme fatale flick, Knockout. The director cast professional fighter Gina Carano in the lead role, and with such a daring move you’ve got to have some serious backup, so he brought out the big boys for the supporting cast.

Today, several sites have posted news regarding the casting for the film including Movieline, who reported that Inglourious Basterds star Michael Fassbender had landed a role. They recently interviewed the actor and learned that Soderbergh will start filming early next month in Dublin. Other than that he couldn’t give any specifics on his part, except that it will have some level of physicality.

Next in line, The Playlist revealed that Michael Douglas, Dennis Quaid, and Ewan McGregor will also co-star, and gave a small character description for each. All the male actors will be a part of Carano’s special team. Douglas will play an older government official, Fassbender and a yet to be named actor will be members of her commando spy unit, and McGregor will be the owner of the private military company she works for.

The specifics on Quaid’s character haven’t been released, but we’re sure he’ll be in the thick of whatever drama the script has to offer. There’s also been a slight change in the film’s story, which originally centered on a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Now she was raised in the military, and left to work for a Blackwater-esque company to make better money but is betrayed by one of her teammates.

It sounds like Soderbergh’s creating a super team of actors to protect the novice star at the center. This isn’t the first time the director has put an unknown in a lead role, and it probably won’t be the last. To see these men in a military action flick does sound intriguing, especially if its done in the same tone as the Bourne movies.

What do you think about the latest castings for Knockout?

Steven Soderbergh Talks Knockout

Krystal Clark — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:07:34 +0000

Steven Soderbergh is developing a kick-ass film entitled, Knockout that will star fighter turned actor Gina Carano. The director recently spoke to Empire about his vision for the top secret project that’s had Hollywood buzzing for the past month. From what we can tell, Knockout is a spy thriller about a girl with some serious martial arts skills who uses them to fight corrupt forces.

When Soderbergh first cast Carano as the lead in the film, many people were surprised that he went with a professionally trained fighter as opposed to a professional actor.

“I felt, somebody is going to look at her and go, ‘She should be in a movie!’ And I felt like, Why shouldn’t I be the person saying that? If you start following the female mma fighters, Gina pops out pretty noticeably.”

Carano has made a few appearances on television with stints on NBC’s American Gladiators, the Showtime documentary, Ring Girls, and the Michael Jai White film, Blood and Bone. We’ve seen action films with strong female leads in the past, but Soderbergh plans on raising the bar with Knockout.

“I’d been wanting to make a spy action film for a while, but hadn’t really determined what I was going to bring to it that would distinguish it from the traditional approach. My desire is for it to be a very realistic portrayal of somebody who gets hired, as these people do, by the government, to go and perform certain duties that it would be inappropriate to give to the military,” says Soderbergh. “That could be anything from a hostage-grab to surveillance to an actual killing…”

The screenplay for the film is currently being written by Lem Dobbs, who previously worked on The Limey and Kafka.

Plot details are scarce, but Soderbergh did state that the film is “a combination of a Bond movie and Point Blank”, though, “more on the scale of From Russian With Love than, you know, Quantum Of Solace… Something where the characters and the story are as prominent as the action stuff.”

Production on Knockout is slated to begin sometime next February.

What do you think of Soderbergh’s description of Knockout? Are you interested in the film?

Steven Soderbergh Casts Gina Carano as a Knockout

Krystal Clark — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh really does make his movies for “grown ups.” Soderbergh’s last film, The Girlfriend Experience featured a professional porn actress as it’s lead, and for his next project entitled, Knockout he wants to keep that level of authenticity going. According to Variety, the director has cast real life MMA fighter Gina Carano as the lead actress in the action film.

Knockout is a spy thriller that will be directed by Soderbergh and financed by Relativity Media. The story centers on “a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is given a second chance to use her skills for constructive purposes.” It’s described as a flat out action film with hints of James Bond, La Femme Nikita, and Kill Bill. Even though it involves plenty of fighting it doesn’t take place inside of a ring. The director plans on surrounding Carano with several name actors in supporting roles.

Soderbergh must have faith in the script for this film written by Lem Dobbs (Limey, Kafka), because he waived his upfront salary. Carano is a lightweight division fighter in the professional mixed martial arts league, with a record that stands at 7-1. She’s also had acting stints on the revamp of American Gladiators, as well as the Showtime documentary, Ring Girls.

Since Knockout will be a straight laced action film I have no doubt that Carano will be able to carry it. On the other hand her acting skills are up for debate. That’s probably why Soderbergh wants to have her surrounded by several “name” actors. Somebody on the set has to know how to deliver a line, instead of a right hook.

What do you think of Gina Carano being cast as the lead in Knockout?

ScreenCrave.com » knockout

Castle: Season 3 Episode 24: Knockout -TV Review

The Players:

Episode Title: “Knockout”

The Good:

The Weird:

The Quotable:

Overall:

Rating: 10/10

Photo Gallery:

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