Everyone who knows movies and the career of Robert DeNiro, knows that he can bring it when he delivers a performance as a wild and crazy psycho path. Just watch Taxi Driver and Cape Fear and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about here. In The Fan, DeNiro goes after one of baseball’s best players, Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes). There is nothing that will stop him from catching his favourite players attention to simply get recognized. As his personal and professional life crumbles around him, Gil (DeNiro) decides to focus his attention on all the wrong things to get his ten seconds of fame. Being a star in little league was the highlight of his life and despite trying to be a good role model to his own kid, his personal demons get the best of him. Whether you like Snipes as an actor or a cocky multi-million baseball player, most people would feel sympathic to him and his struggles upon returning to his home team the San Francisco Giants. Sometimes as the story unfolds, you’ll be like “is this really a baseball movie”? It is and it isn’t. You often don’t find baseball movies in the thriller section since stories usually center around petty drama on and off the field. In The Fan, blood and death are really the focal points here because the writers wanted to finally shine some light on the psychotic fans who are really out there, but usually stay in the shadows and never act out. 8/10
Ten Stars or Less 