![\"\"](\"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/good-time-.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Robert Pattinson<\/a> has come a long way from his Edward Cullen years in Twilight<\/em><\/a>, having to carefully pick his roles as to throw off the vampire mantel. He has had some successes and some duds. However, with the Safdie Brothers<\/a>\u2019 Good Time<\/em><\/a>, an urban thriller on speed, he may just have done it. Its edgy pace and sense of \u2018in the moment\u2019 fixes makes the actor\u2019s underdog character Constantine \u2018Connie\u2019 Nikas not just an exhilarating one to try and keep up with, but a complete change from the normally laid-back Pattinson.<\/p>\n After a botched bank robbery by brothers Connie and Nick (Benny Safdie<\/a>), the latter gets caught and jailed. So begins the desperate 24-hour countdown by Connie to collect together bail money and stop his mentally-ill brother from being sent to Riker\u2019s Island prison, where he knows Nick will not survive.<\/p>\n With its film noir nods, punctuated by psychedelic colour and energizing pop tracks, the Safdie Brothers take us on a journey through the underbelly of Queens \u2013 their home turf, with Connie as our unwilling guide. The gritty, hand-held production was often shot without filming permits \u2013 as is the Safdies\u2019 \u2018urban opera\u2019 style, further complimenting the whole affair.<\/p>\n With elements of Taxi Driver<\/em><\/a> to it \u2013 the Safdies are working with Scorsese on a new film, there is a pressure-cooker environment waiting to come to boil. Unlike the 1976\u2019s cult classic, Good Time<\/em> has moments of release, only for a split second, to show the idiocy\/absurdity of certain events throughout.<\/p>\n At the heart is a criminal with a heart \u2013 thieves may not stick together, but brothers do. Pattinson\u2019s casting is a clever choice by the Safdies, who have pluck unknowns from the street to act. Pattinson embodies Connie completely, including clinching the accent. That said there is a softer edge to his hardened exterior, allowing empathy with his plight to filter through at times.<\/p>\n This is in stark contrast with Queens native Buddy Duress<\/a>, a real-life, reformed felon who the Safdie Brothers cast in their earlier film, Heaven Knows What<\/em><\/a> (2014). Duress plays Ray this time, a pathetic small-time crook who knows how to get cash quick for Connie. The fact Pattinson is so convincing opposite Duress in their scenes is credit to the Brit\u2019s complete transformation in this.<\/p>\n Good Time<\/em> is a ride of the night, a pulsing, high-octane race against the main enemy \u2013 time. It may surprise some Pattinson\u2019s fans, but it will certainly hold him in greater acting regard by everyone who sees this.<\/p>\n 4\/ 5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n By @FilmGazer<\/p>\n