Rich characters! Each character had a life a back story that I got to know enough of about. Usually I'm annoyed by narrative, it takes me out of the movie, but they weren't distracting at all. They were funny and smart and it was a creative way to get insight about the character instead of 'telling' dialog, which can get tedious. Love watching little films with a lot of everything: raw grit, action and heart. Milla was great, never seen her that emotional and focused. This was a 3-d performance for her. Read Gary Lenon's credits- good stuff for a directorial debut. He made efficient choices that tell the story. It's hard to do that the first time around. Didn't know Aisha Tyler was in it, another pleasant surprise. Her performance was subtle. The cast was authentic Big Al owned the role! I really liked this one.

.45 was a strange film to say the least. It was somewhat messy and filled with a lot of gritty drama, violence, betrayal and cursing. The film has three parts, the first being a character study of an urban white trash couple, both of whom I thought were fairly convincing, Jovovich looking the part, while 'Big Al' looking something like a fat, bloated uglier version of Russell Crowe plays a slovenly fat pig, small time crime and bully to perfection and seemed to have plenty of fun doing it.

After some earlier hijinks, the tone of the film changes, moving into a domestic violence expose with a psycho partner and this is where the film excels. The scenes of domestic violence are powerful and comparable to 'Once Were Warriors' in terms of the sensory assault and shock of the violence, intimidation, degradation and dehumanizing treatment meted out and the acting of both leads and the dynamics of their relationship is highly believable. The prolonged and sustained assault that features alone makes this worth seeing for the impact on the viewer, but you couldn't call that bit entertaining.

Unfortunately, having taken a turn for the better and setting itself up as something more memorable, it then degenerates nearer the end in trying to be clever, perhaps overdoing the scheming, manipulation and surprises in Jovovich trying to escape the abusive relationship, little of which you couldn't see coming and much of what the film could have done without. It was certainly a worthwhile part for Jovovich contrary to what some people have suggested and she did herself no dis-service accepting this role.

The ending was not that shocking. It was very clear about half way (when he beats her) that somehow she was going to get away from him (if it were murder or a frame-work like what happened) One somewhat bad thing is that they made Aisha Tyler's character look bad in the end. Everyone else was left feeling happy (aside from Big Al of course) but her character was obviously upset. The final few minutes takes it back to the beginning when Kat is talking into the camera while on the beach. It then shows her walking away then the film ends.

Picking out a great line in this film is very difficult. There were a lot of great lines in writer Gary Lennon's directorial debut. These are lines, of course, that you will not likely hear on his TV shows that he writes for.

Besides the lines, you had Milla Jovovich. I don't gravitate towards the tall skinny ones with the itty bitties, but she is hot, and she did a good job as a battered girlfriend. She was incredibly believable after the last incident, and as someone who was definitely in fear for her life.

Lennon's story has her finding a way out of her predicament that was sweet and sneaky. Using her hips, lips, and tits, she conned several people into soling her problem; including Sarah Strange ("Da Vinci's Inquest"), who played a bisexual (mostly lesbian) BFF to Milla that wanted much more, and Aisha Tyler (Charlie from "Friends," and the only reason I ever watched "The Ghost Whisperer"), She was a former battered wife that was now a counselor, and she was also very believable in the role.

Stephen Dorff (Blade) was also good, and I wish him luck in his quest for the impossible dream.