Sure the apocalypse has come leaving civilization destroyed, there's no food, you're cold, homeless and constantly fighting off cannibals, but on the bright side...oh, that's right, there is no bright side. You're going to die, you will starve alone and cold and when you're dead cannibals will feast on your malnourished bones. Happy times! The End.

If you like depressing I have found the new center of your DVD library. My friend Krusty over at Fistful of Donuts hits the nail on the head with his review:

And The Road doesn't hold out much hope for mankind. Cannibalism, rape, torture and murder are just under the surface of each of us, according to this film, and even good people are likely to become senselessly, inhumanly cruel when removed from the dictates of civilized interaction. This movie isn't just cynical; it's absolutely relentless.

Relentless is the exact word. You have a scene where the father portrayed by Viggo Mortensen (who is apparently made of leather now) teaches his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) how to put the pistol in his mouth and properly blow his brains out. If that doesn't give you pause, I don't know what will.

The film follows a father and son as they walk south following an apocalyptic disaster. The disaster itself is not explained or shown. We are not given a view of the world as it falls apart. The focus is on the desperate last gasps of humanity. Civilization completely gone, hope for long-term survival gone, men become animals scraping for every last scrap of existence - it ain't pretty.


The problem the film faces is if you're going to ask your audience to sit through this kind of content, you better have a solid point to make. You better end with a definitive statement. This film lacks that satisfying payoff. I don't mean we need to have a happy ending, but one with some depth. The ending of this film stinks of a focus group, or at least a writer who didn't know how else to end things.

There are many aspects of the film that are well thought out and executed about as good as possible. There are strong supporting performances by Robert DuVall, Michael K. Williams and Charlize Theron. All of this wasted by a less than brilliant ending. In this way, the film replicates its presentation of civilization, a great deal of effort, much of it worthwhile, but it all comes down to weak moments that devalue everything that came before it.



Related Reviews:
Viggo Mortensen movies
Eastern Promises (2007)
Appaloosa (2008)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Miami Herald
Chicago Tribune



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Labels: Charlize Theron, film, Guy Pearce, movie trailer, Robert Duvall, Viggo Mortensen

Screenwriter: Joe Penhall
Director: John Hillcoat
Actors: Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises), Robert Duvall (The Apostle), Charlize Theron (North Country) and Guy Pearce (Memento)

Labels: Charlize Theron, film, Guy Pearce, movie trailer, Robert Duvall, Viggo Mortensen

The gag that Hancock is a bum superhero lasts for a minute. Then the movie falls apart. The core of the film is bad. At the heart of the film is a detestable figure, Hancock, a broken down, drunken superhero. When he attempts to help others he ends up destroying everything around him. He's a self despising klutz with substance abuse problems. Who wants to watch that? Think of it this way, if this were a white character and not black, the lead would have been played by Larry the Cable Guy, not Will Smith. This is trashy stuff dressed up nice.

The film suffers because it can't decide if its serious, half-serious or a completely frivolous. In one of the early scenes Hancock is approached by a beautiful groupie. He takes her back to his trailer (told you this was meant for Larry the Cable Guy) and they have sex. The "joke" turns out that when he culminates his intimate efforts his semen shoots out like a bullet (told you this was trashy). This isn't funny, but this is the joke they decide to work with. Director Peter Berg (The Kingdom), like his audience, fails to find anything funny in the scene and lets it play itself out, the woman runs away in fear, with no humor or any deeper meaning. As crude as this scene is, I think it represents how the entire film is mishandled. Odd items or situations are broached and then played out but done so without an ounce of depth. This leaves Smith and the rest of the cast stumbling through scenes that do nothing but clumsily push the plot forward. By the end of the film the film has languished in toneless scenes for so long, so many times, the resolution is D.O.A. The final act seems more like a cleaning up than a resolution.

I like Berg's previous films, I think Smith is one of the better matinee stars working, but this film is an unfortunate misfire.


Related Reviews:
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Pursuit of Happyness (2005)
I am Legend (2007)


Other Critic’s Reviews:
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Film Freak Central Reviews

Labels: Charlize Theron, film, Jason Bateman, movie trailer, Peter Berg, superhero, Will Smith

Before I dig into the movie itself, I had to acknowledge that Charlize Theron does give a notable performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos. It's not that she uglied-up and gained weight for the role. Her performance itself is strikingly good. I've often complained that some performers can be too good looking to be taken seriously. Their good looks are distracting and set them too far apart from the average person that having them in a common role doesn't jive - for a good example of this check out Theron in North Country. She looks exactly like what she is in that role, a model dressed up like a plebe. In this role, she buries her attractiveness and makes much out of the opportunity her mask offers. I suspect the ability to distract from her looks was one of the compelling reasons for her to take the role in the first place. Alright, I'm off on a tangent - she does a great job, noted.

The film itself is a detestable thing. Aileen Wuornos, a dim-witted serial killer, gets a sympathetic biography complete with A-List starlets. The film follows Wuornos' exploits as she carries out her crimes and drags her lesbian lover Selby (Christina Ricci) down with her. Writer/Director Patty Jenkins clearly intends on humanizing the most famous female serial killer of all time. She goes out of her way to show Wuornos, not as a gutter level whore/vicious killer but a psychologically damaged result of male sexual abuse. Jenkins' Wuornos is first and foremost a victim, a victim who strikes out in the only way she knows how, by killing other people. Now, Jenkins isn't a moron, she knows that she can't just lay out Wuornos as a product of our society and then ignore the fact the woman brutally murdered a whole bunch of men. She tries to soften her point-of-view by either making her victims out to be brutish abusers or by quickly trying to establish their humanity before their snuffed out. One of Wuornos' victims desperately explains his disabled wife can't pleasure him and he holds up a picture of his wheelchair bound spouse. This may be a factual display, I don't know, but just the same Jenkin's inclusion of it in the film and how it is presented is as manipulative as having the man cuddle a sad eyed puppy just before he's killed.

The story overall is a bumpy ride. Jenkins establishes Wuornos as a victim rather effectively, but also too forcefully. Theron's performance glosses over much of Jenkins' over directing however. The film runs into trouble when Wuornos begins to commit murders and her relationship with Selby hits the skids. When the two eventually hit the road, the film has lost much of its potency and we're left with two completely unlikable misfits arguing. These two do not make for interesting theater. Selby is a thin character, a quiet sociopath who blends into the backdrops. Christina Ricci doesn't have much to work with and seems to flounder in the role. Her results are flat and amount to little more than whining her lines and sulking. When contrasted with Theron teetering on overacting, Ricci seems to disappear altogether.

Finally, I have to mention that this film has a hilarious bit of anti-Christan bile slapped right in the middle of the story. Selby's overbearing mother is, of course, a Christian - because as we all know by now all overbearing, spiteful people are of the faith. Jenkins' couldn't have made a bigger prop if she had the role played by a cardboard cutout of Pat Robertson. What's funny about this ludicrously written part is that Jenkins', not satisfied with sticking to the run-of-the-mill Christian bigotry, Jenkins actually has the woman belch out the n-word like she's cursed with racist Tourettes. She hurriedly combines Christianity with racism and then moves on as if to say "alright, we've seen enough of this, you get the point - her mother is a Christian (who are racist by the way) and that's what screwed her up. What's interesting is that the film shows the Christian mother in poorer light that the drug abusing, murdering prostitute. At least the conniving whore gets excuses made for her behavior.

Overall, this movie seeks to justify the actions of a serial killer. Defenders will say I'm wrong and point out that the movie doesn't support her decision to kill all those men. The point here is that Jenkins and company decided to make a movie explaining this woman, and they try to get us to sympathize with her miserable life. Aileen Wuornos had a rough life to be certain, but so have a lot of people, and some worse than her. To come down on the side of the murderer, any murderer is wrong. The only reason they did it is because they believe they could score some neo-feminists points about societal abuse. What's truly pathetic, I'd go as far as to say it's horrifying, is that these idiots don't see past their urge to "express themselves" to see that the woman they so eagerly display in a wheelchair to "humanize" her dead husband has to live now knowing they made a movie glorifying his murderer and they used her disability in part to do it.

Like I said, detestable.


Related Reviews:
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Mr. Brooks (2007)
L'Empire des loups “Empire of the Wolves" (2005)


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Labels: biography, Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, film, movie review, serial killer

Releasing today, this Will Smith vehicle has him playing a down-and-out superhero. Peter Berg (The Kingdom) is directing the McMovie. I imagine this will be humorous, but not funny - entertaining, but not memorable. Check out the trailer below. Seems like its a one joke movie, but then again Smith has a knack for picking good projects for his image.

Labels: Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, movie trailer, Peter Berg, superhero, Will Smith

Releasing on July 2nd, 2008, this Will Smith vehicle has him playing a down-and-out superhero who takes up with another man's wife. Peter Berg (The Kingdom) is directing the McMovie. I imagine this will be humorous, but not funny - entertaining, but not memorable. Check out the trailer below. Seems like its a one joke movie, but then again Smith has a knack for picking good projects for his image.

Labels: Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, movie trailer, Peter Berg, superhero, Will Smith