''The Death and Life of Bobby Z'', also known as ''Bobby Z'' and ''Let's Kill Bobby Z'', is a 2007 American-German action film, directed by

John Herzfeld John Herzfeld (born April 15, 1947) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, actor and producer. His feature film directing credits include '' Two of a Kind'' (1983), '' 2 Days in the Valley'' (1996), '' 15 Minutes'' (2001) and ...

, and starring

Paul Walker Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. He was known for his role as Brian O'Conner in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. Walker began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, gaining recogniti ...

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...

Olivia Wilde Olivia Jane Cockburn ( ; born March 10, 1984), known professionally as Olivia Wilde, is an American actress and filmmaker. She played Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series ''House'' (2007–2012), and has appeared in the ...

and

Joaquim de Almeida Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida (born 15 March 1957) is a Portuguese actor. Almeida began his acting career in theatre during the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film '' The Soldier'', and later ach ...

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) is a specialty film division of Sony Pictures. The company specializes in acquiring and producing films for a wide variety of distribution platforms. History The group became a stand-alone division of ...

released the film

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy w ...

in the United States.

Don Winslow Don Winslow (born October 31, 1953) is an American retired author best known for his award-winning and internationally bestselling crime novels, including '' Savages'', ''The Force'' and the Cartel Trilogy. Early life Winslow was born on Oct ...

, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, acknowledged that the screen adaptation was not successful.

Plot

Don Huertero (

) is a Mexican

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

. His daughter committed suicide because a drug dealer known as Bobby Z broke her heart. Consequently, Don Huertero is out for vengeance. In trepidation, Bobby Z seeks shelter in an American embassy. From there he is handed over to federal agent Tad Gruzsa (

). In order to get hold of Bobby Z after all, Don Huertero takes a colleague of Tad Gruzsa as hostage and proposes an exchange. Bobby Z knows Don Huertero will not rest until he believes him dead. Being worried sick, he bribes Tad Gruzsa. Now Tad Gruzsa conceives a plan to deceive Don Huertero. He wants to make Don Huertero believe Bobby Z was dead without harming the real Bobby Z. When the exchange is supposed to take place, Tad Gruzsa replaces Bobby Z. In his stead the clueless

doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

Tim Kearney (

), a former

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

and an inmate, crosses the border. During the exchange Tad Gruzsa incites a gunfight and tries to shoot the doppelgänger dead. Even so, Tim Kearney scarcely survives. But Tad Gruzsa keeps on trying to kill him. But he fails time after time. Despite all his efforts it is the real Bobby Z who is taken down. Tim Kearney on the other hand finds love (Elizabeth, played by

as a kind of

it girl An "it girl" is an attractive young woman, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. ...

Structure

The films starts by introducing "the legend of Bobby Z", an immensely successful and famous marijuana trafficker, yacht owner and surfer, described ecstatically as an entity of almost mythical proportions by an old man, representing the contemporary folklore of the Gold Coast of

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. The film then goes on to describe the film's hero Tim Kearney, played by male leading actor Paul Walker.

Exposition Exposition (also the French for exhibition) may refer to: *Universal exposition or World's Fair * Expository writing ** Exposition (narrative) * Exposition (music) *Trade fair A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade e ...

flashbacks and narrative by the relatively hostile FBI agents serve to portray Kearney as a somewhat reckless and uncontrollable, yet also likeable and brave character, who ends up in prison because of his former qualities. When Kearney accepts Tad Gruzsa's offer, the audience does not know anything more than he does. Thus the film continues, following Tim Kearny as he successively collects information. The audience is never ahead of him. This and the fact that a great deal of the story has already happened before the hero gets involved, require flashbacks galore. As a result, the structure is highly interlaced. The film ends with a few concluding remarks by the same old man of the Gold Coast that appeared in the introduction.

Cast

as Tim Kearney *

as Tad Gruzsa *

as Elizabeth *

Jason Flemyng Jason Iain Flemyng''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 25 September 1966) is an English actor. He is known for roles in British films such as ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) ...

as Brian * Keith Carradine as Johnson *

as Don Huertero * J. R. Villarreal as Kit * Jason Lewis as Bobby "Bobby Z" *

Jacob Vargas Jacob Vargas (born August 18, 1971) is a Mexican-American actor and performer. Early life Vargas was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family. He attended high sc ...

as Jorge Escobar * Michael Bowen as Duke * M. C. Gainey as "Boom-Boom" *

Josh Stewart Joshua Regnall Stewart (born February 6, 1977) is an American actor who is best known for his role as Holt McLaren in the FX TV series ''Dirt'' and as Detective William LaMontagne, Jr., on the CBS series ''Criminal Minds''. He was also cast as ...

as "Monk" *

Margo Martindale Margo Martindale (born July 18, 1951) is an American character actress who has appeared on television, film, and stage. In 2011, she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award for her recurring role as Mags Bennett on '' ...

as Macy * Chuck Liddell as "Maddog" *

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver ...

as Hippy Narrator (uncredited)

Novel

The film is based on a 1997 novel of the same name by

. The novel was positively reviewed by several newspapers.

References

External links