Fatale

Love is a bitch, and even though they say all things are fair when it comes to it, that is almost never true. In the hills above Los Angeles, Derrick (Michael Ealy) is enjoying the fruits of his hard labor. A onetime college basketball star , Derrick has built a thriving business as an agent representing athletes with his business partner Rafe (Mike Colter). Derrick has it all, a perfect house and car, and a beautiful wife in Traci (Damaris Lewis), but that’s just on the surface.

Derrick can feel like something is off, as Traci has been coming home later, after hearing her excuse why, Derrick takes this with him to Vegas on a trip with his friends. Once in Vegas, Rafe tells him to have fun and takes his wedding ring from him, and that is when Derrick meets someone. Things happen and when he awakes in the morning and as he is trying to leave, the woman shows she has a little crazy in her. Derrick gets out and comes home and wants to light that spark back with his wife. After a great night with her, someone breaks into their home and Derrick is almost killed. It is when the police arrive and Derrick meets the detective in charge of his case that he realizes that what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas. The woman he hooked up with in Vegas is Detective Quinlan (Hilary Swank), or the officer in charge of his break in. If things couldn’t get any more tangled, the web gets larger and soon Derrick is not only fighting for his freedom, but also his life.

In the eighties it was a lot simpler, when you had a lover who was a little crazy, the worst she would do would be to boil the family’s rabbit on the stove top. Boy how times have changed. This story, written by David Loughery could have been a good scorned lover story, but he decided to add too many layers. Instead of a simply crazy boyfriend or girlfriend, he went all in and made Swank’s character not only cray cray, but a stone cold killer as well. There was no hiding this as you see it early with Swank’s character, but if you were still hoping for a few turns, too bad, this story is going to the exact place you think it’s going. I did like the  off and obsessive Swank as she plays it well, but this movie is so much more about how it looks than if it has any substance to speak of. Director Deon Taylor only shows you the best parts of L.A. and even when you see something bad happen, you still get a great view in the background. No one wants to be in a situation like this and no one wants to see a bad movie, so  you probably should just avoid Fatale if you feel that way. For Derrick his life would have been better if he didn’t make a bad decision. I am going to save you from making one yourself and recommend you stay away from this one.