ONE WAY

A pre-credits scene follows a young girl as she's chased into the woods by a group of teenaged boys and gang raped by them. She's saved by the General (Michael Clarke Duncan), a black soldier who turns up and shoots each boy dead.

Then we plunge into the world of wide boy Eddie (Til Schweiger). Eddie and his pretty girlfriend Judy (Stefanie von Pfetten) pull up outside her father Russell's (Art Hindle) stately manor abode. Russell also owns the advertising firm that Eddie works for, and is clearly fond of the young go-getter. So fond, in fact, that he's delighted when Eddie asks him for Judy's hand in marriage.

Even so, Russell has one condition before agreeing: Eddie must seal a deal with a large client.

Meanwhile Russell's son and fellow employee Anthony (Sebastien Roberts) lurks in the background, observing jealously as Eddie gets his feet well and truly under the table.

The following morning Eddie makes haste to the meeting with the all-important client, stopping on the way for sex with his mistress in her flat. He arrives at the meeting late but clinches the deal in spectacular fashion - much to Russell's joy and Anthony's increasing chagrin.

Afterwards, Eddie takes his best friend Angelina (Lauren Lee Smith) - she also works for the same firm - out for a celebratory drink. She knows all about his philandering and suggests that it must stop now that he's getting married. Upon returning to the office to discover that Russell has made him an official partner in the company, Eddie realises that Angelina's right. He pops round to his mistress and ends it with her, determined not to jeopardise his future under Russell's wing.

That evening the celebrations continue with drinks at the office. Anthony is visibly unhappy and takes Eddie to one side to challenge his fidelity. Eddie shrugs off the accusations and leaves for the evening. Which leaves Anthony alone with Angelina.

Things soon turn nasty when Anthony accuses Angelina of sleeping with Eddie (as it happens, she's the one girl that Eddie respects too much to shag). Angelina responds by cursing in Anthony's face, which in turns compels him to rape her - in both toilet holes.

The following morning Eddie finds Angelina in tears and confronts Anthony. However, Anthony reveals photographs of Eddie's philandering and essentially blackmails the love rat: he'll keep his mouth shut if Eddie will provide an alibi for him in court.

Eddie, being the self-centred cad that he is, has little dilemma choosing whether or not to betray his best friend. But with a probing solicitor (Eric Roberts) and the return of the General, things don't run as smoothly as either Eddie or Anthony hoped …

Slickly edited and visually polished, ONE WAY boasts strong production values and decent acting from its accomplished cast. Although, having said that, I understand that Schweiger is usually known as a comedian? I can't imagine a more wooden "funny" man.

But it's a hard film to like because of its moral ambiguities. We're invited to side with Eddie - but he's such a twat, how can we emphasise with his predicament? The only sympathetic character is Angelina … but even she commits acts that rob her of empathy in the final act.

This is an extremely cynical rape-revenge drama from Germany, punctuated by a couple of surprisingly mean-spirited scenes of sexual violence. The opening rape-revenge fantasy scene means nothing until the final third of the film when a clearer picture of the General's significance emerges. But even then, there are no real twists in ONE WAY - it's a polished but unchallenging affair.

Soulless but competent - it's a so-so thriller with an interesting edge, watered down somewhat by a slightly daft 'courtroom drama' element.

The anamorphic 1.78:1 picture is lovely, a very sharp and clear presentation that moves smoothly and is free of grain or softness.

English audio is presented in 2.0 and, likewise, is a sturdy problem-free proposition.

An animated main menu leads into a static scene-selection page allowing access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

The only extra on the disc is a 2-minute trailer presented in non-anamorphic 1.78:1. The disc also opens with trailers for THE SERPENT, OUT OF THE BLUE and THE BANQUET.

Some familiar faces and decent production values ensure that ONE WAY is always watchable. But it's a mediocre thriller and a non-starter in the action stakes. The violence is unusually mean-spirited for a film this polished (with a stronger script, bigger budget and more famous cast, this is the type of faceless thriller that plays in Multiplexes), but still falls short of what the average horror fan would be prepared to justify.

This is probably best recommended as one of those films you stumble across on TV, when you're in the mood for vegging out in front of anything that doesn't require much thought.

Review by Stuart Willis