Endgame (2001)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Gary Wicks

Writer:

Gary Wicks (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Sex is currency. It commands power and can instill fear. Tom, a young man with a troubled past finds...

Plot Keywords:

Gay Interest | Male Prostitute | Hustler | Older Man Younger Man Relationship | Torture

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Daniel Newman	...	Tom
Corey Johnson	...	Max Bergman
Toni Barry	...	Nikke Bergman
Mark McGann	...	Norris
John Benfield	...	Dunston
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adam Allfrey	...	Mark (barman)
Darren Bancroft	...	Det. Const. Worth
Perry Blanks	...	Det. Const. Clarke
Alain Bourgoin	...	French man
Julius D'Silva	...	Andy
Russell Floyd	...	Merchant
Rachel Izen	...	Tom's stepmother
Jeremy Legat	...	Jonathan Norris
Ben Macleod	...	Young Tom
Phillip Manikum	...	Farmer
Murray McArthur	...	Det. Const. Kenny
Kate McKenzie	...	Kathy Norris
John Peters	...	Tom's stepfather
Andy Smart	...	Heavy at the bar
Sam Smart	...	Det. Const. Wilson

Directed by
Gary Wicks

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gary Wicks		writer

Produced by
Keith Dearling	....	executive producer
Laurence Floyd	....	associate producer
Richard Hallows	....	executive producer
Gary Jones	....	producer
Gary Jones	....	producer
Simon A. Maudsley	....	executive producer
Andrew Tate	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Adrian Thomas

Cinematography by
Dave Bennett

Film Editing by
Kerry Kohler

Production Design by
Martyn John

Costume Design by
Nigel Egerton
Anja Mai

Makeup Department
Catherine Heys	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Cate Arbeid	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alex Kaye-Besley	....	additional third assistant director
Jez Oakley	....	assistant director

Art Department
Claire Pidgeon	....	graphic designer
Robert Wischhusen-Hayes	....	production buyer

Sound Department
Richard Fettes	....	dialogue editor
Jacques Leroide	....	foley editor
Gerard Loret	....	first assistant sound editor
Colin Miller	....	supervising sound editor
Robin O'Donoghue	....	sound re-recording mixer
John Rodda	....	sound

Special Effects by
Manex Efrem	....	special effects co-supervisor
James Enright	....	chief sculptor

Stunts
Theo Kypri	....	stunts
Peter Pedrero	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Andy Bailey	....	electrician
Nick Briggs	....	still photographer
Peter Chester	....	best boy
Mike House	....	key grip
Mark Hutchings	....	electrician
Steve Slocombe	....	electrician
Andrew Taylor	....	gaffer
J. Glyn Williams	....	second assistant camera

Editorial Department
James Herbert	....	on-line editor
Michael Nollet	....	trainee assistant editor
Ben Renton	....	second assistant editor
Rab Wilson	....	associate editor

Music Department
John Boughtwood	....	music supervisor

Transportation Department
Guy Bostock	....	action vehicle coordinator
Sean Thornton	....	picture vehicle technician

Other crew
Natalie Lovatt	....	script continuity assistant
Rosie Newall	....	runner
Matthew O'Toole	....	production accountant
Camilla Stephenson	....	assistant location manager
Charlie Whitaker	....	production runner
Billy Worth	....	script associate

Production Companies

• Various Films

Distributors

• TLA Releasing (USA) (video)

Other Companies

• Audiolink Radio Communications  walkie talkies

Runtime:

109 min | USA:113 min (Palm Springs International Film Festival)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA (cable rating)

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Various Films

Movie Connections:

Version of Endgame (2000) (TV)

Daniel Newman looks great, but the 'plot twist' is insulting

ENDGAME

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Digital

After killing the thuggish gangster (Mark McGann) who'd been acting as his pimp, a beautiful London rent boy (Daniel Newman) goes on the run with a sympathetic American couple (Toni Barry and Corey Johnson), but they're pursued by a corrupt police officer (John Benfield), one of Newman's former clients, desperate to retrieve an incriminating videotape in the boy's possession.

Gary Wicks' low budget feature debut will divide opinion like few other gay-themed movies of recent years. The pacing is a little muted, and some of the lapses in logic are too significant to ignore (Barry and Johnson's reaction to Newman's crime is simply not credible), but Wicks generates a fair degree of emotional tension, helped by attractive location photography (by David Bennett), a memorable music score (by Adrian Thomas), and a fine portrait of corrupted innocence by Newman (SPEAK LIKE A CHILD), an elfin beauty whose low-key performance anchors the entire production.

True to expectation, Wicks (whose resumé includes an executive producer credit on MOMENTS WITH JOHAN, a softcore ode to European porn star Johan Paulik, produced in 1996) makes a virtue of Newman's exquisite splendor, presenting him either shirtless or naked in every other scene, while Bennett's camera savors (almost) every inch of the young actor's glorious, sculpted body. But in a plot twist calculated to provoke outraged disbelief from some quarters, Newman's relationship with McGann and his cronies is depicted as violent and coercive, while his first heterosexual encounter (with Barry) is portrayed as a tender, liberating experience! This narrative backflip is both inappropriate and offensive, and suggests nothing more than a sop to commercial fortunes, skewing the film toward a gay audience whilst simultaneously appeasing potential straight viewers, an approach which defies all narrative logic and satisfies no one. That aside, however, the plot is reasonably engaging and the performances are superb, while the fetishization of Newman's fabulous torso provides some compensation for the movie's thematic shortcomings.

NB. The VHS version contains full-frontal nudity from Newman during a shower sequence early in the film, but the US DVD has been deliberately reframed to obscure everything below the waist.