I had admittedly low expectations for Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman. Shia LaBeouf has never been my favorite actor, and I wasn't really sure how Rupert Grint would do away from his Harry Potter role. While the film has a few issues here and there, it's a pleasant surprise overall. Shia still has that somewhat spastic quality to his acting that I've now decided is his trademark, but it's more toned down and refined than usual. I don't think I even heard his voice crack. Rupert didn't have a ton of screentime, and he still showed signs of overeagerness, but aside from having a somewhat extreme characer (he's auditioning to get into porn), there's really nothing notable to say.
Necessary Death is the story of an American who, upon the death of his mother, ends up in Bucharest on a bit of a whim. On the flight over, the passenger next to him dies on him"”literally. One thing leads to another, and Charlie (LaBeouf) is suddenly running for his life from a mobster in hopes of saving the love of his life. While the summary makes it sound terrible, it's actually quite good, and the story actually works. Sure, a few things are a bit farfetched, but it's film; it happens.
Despite the oddities of the overall plot, the story and writing are actually fairly strong. The dialogue was delivered in a believable manner by the cast, and the none of the performances of one actor totally outshined another. Bulgarian mobsters are at least a little different from the cliché Russians, so that's a nice change. Suspend your disbelief and get past some of the weirdness of the first 15 minutes and Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman is actually a fairly solid film. Who knew.
