I haven't been writing reviews because I sort of felt that nobody should really care what I have to say about movies, but then I figured that's the wrong attitude to have, but by then I'd gotten out of the habit, and I am nothing if not a creature of habit. But this film really made me break that habit because I have a lot to say about it. And it all mainly stems from how disappointed I am.
Last year, there were a lot of movies whose trailers made me really excited. When I saw the Southland Tales trailer, it was officially the movie I was most looking forward to. If not the most, then definitely among the top 5. It was because visually, it looked fascinating and original; the cast was terrible, but I thought that there would be an ironic terribleness to it that would end up working really well, and because I really liked Donnie Darko, I was looking forward to the next film by Richard Kelly. It seemed like a winning combination.
Alas. And this is a big alas. I did not like it at all. Who knew that a bad cast would actually be just that: a bad cast? Turns out that Justin Timberlake isn't a great actor. Turns out that The Rock doesn't really do tweaky and weird very well. Turns out that I will never be able to stand Sarah Michelle Gellar and Cheri Oteri will never not be annoying. Turns out I will always hate Christopher Lambert, and turns out even Lou Taylor Pucci couldn't make a white cholo work. The big surprise was actually that Seann William Scott, someone I had entirely discounted from being worth anything at all, plays the straight man pretty well. He should look into dramas, I think he might actually have the chops. I was really hoping that Wallace Shawn would utter just one self-referential "inconceivable!" but, alas.
The cast really was the least of it, I was just particularly disappointed that it didn't work out. I love post-apocalytpic films, books, anything, so I really thought that this would be the next, new, absurd and surreal post-apocalypse as dreamed up by the creator of Donnie Darko, and that just sounded so awesome. This film is NOT post-apocalyptic, it's pre-and-presently apocalyptic. It is surprising to me that this is less interesting than the post- scenario, since the apocalypse seems like something that would be exciting and action-packed. I suppose it could be interesting, since I like monster disaster movies, but the political meltdown/Orwellian downfall is a bit less captivating. Or maybe it wouldn't be if it were in the hands of someone with a better sense for storytelling and coherent narrative.
Because, really, the biggest disappointment was how bizarre and disjointed it was. Bizarre and disjointed can work sometimes, if there is an overarching narrative or point that will eventually be made obvious, or if the director is David Lynch, whom Richard Kelly is clearly trying to emulate. (There were some painfully blatant "homages" that looked more like cheap ripoffs, like having Rebekah del Rio sing a haunting version of an old standard in a fairly pivotal scene.) One gets the idea that there should be a lot more information about the "history" leading up to the apocalypse because there are characters whose names are hardly mentioned, if at all, and whose presence do not seem necessary, but nonetheless are portrayed by fairly famous actors. Similarly, the introductory narration at the beginning of the film seems to gloss over things very quickly, giving you only a vague notion of what the intended importance of that information actually is.
I learned that there was a series of comic book prequels to this film that were released, and I think that might work really well. It seems like the kind of story that needs to be long and explanatory, with different parts of the story and different characters each having its own focus. I might actually check those out once I get the bad taste of this film out of my mouth. As a film, however, there is nothing to really latch onto in order to grasp any meaning behind the characters' motivations, and you hardly even learn their names. It seems like a rich source for an alternative history of the United States/world, but unless you make it up in your head as you go along to flesh out the scenarios, it's nothing but brief vignettes with some shiny special effects and pretty people in makeup and costumes.
This wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but it might be the biggest letdown. Richard Kelly is clearly riding on the popularity of Donnie Darko, thinking that he can use tactics previously employed since it worked so well. What worked once doesn't always work twice, and a semi-non-linear, deconstructed narrative makes sense in a movie that is kind of about time travel, but not in one with so many characters and where there is so much information trying to be conveyed. I don't know if I have any suggestions on how this could be better. I wish I did, because I would watch this movie remade, revamped and retooled. It has so much potential for something good, and all that potential was squandered.
