Considering the success of Avatar and Clash of the Titans it was only a matter of time before Sam Worthington’s early Australian films started to surface in America on DVD. Pros and Ex Cons was originally released in 2005 under the title Fink!. It was directed and written by Tim Boyle who, as far as I can tell, isn’t related to Danny Boyle by blood or originality. The film is a postmodern mix of ironic humor and violence and comes across as a poor man’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (which in return might have been the British take on Pulp Fiction by way of Reservoir Dogs).
The plot revolves around Terence Fink (David Wheeler from Farscape), a crime lord with incompetent hitmen (The Matrix Reloaded’s Steve Bastoni and Sam Worthington). They’re talented assassins but since they rarely kill the right person Fink decides to outsource and hire a pair of mercenaries to do his dirty work. This leads to the first of many mistaken identity twists that serve as the basis for the film’s plot. Throw in a little of Richard Pryor’s “Superman III” scam to siphon loose change from thousands of bank accounts and you’ve got Pros and Ex-Cons.
The majority of the film’s cast is filled out with Australian soap opera stars, B-list actors and other virtual unknowns. Their performances range from acceptable to annoying but that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Worthington is decent but fans shouldn’t expect to see much of him. The film is very much an ensemble piece that splits its time between its plots fairly evenly. Unfortunately this means you’ll end up spending more time with certain subplots that you’d rather avoid entirely. I’d like to say that Pros and Ex-Cons is worth your time but its so forgettable that unless you’re a Worthington completeist you’d be better off revisiting Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.