Ok. So this is the next real film from Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly. I’m discounting Domino, that seems to be a subcontractor gig, needed the cash? Whatever, fine. But after Darko, you know this is gonna be a trip. And it is. It’s thick with some exposition and information overload. Shades of Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers infologs are sprinkled liberally throughout. It's pretty much next level. Wider scope. Bigger budget. Bigger actors and, oddly, a lot of 2nd-tier SNL cast members. Weird juxtaposition. Most new viewers at this point won’t recognize them. That’s probably for the best.
Some shit pops off in Abilene, Texas on July 4th of 2005. New security apparatus USIDENT comes into play shortly after and before you can finish saying 198fouckin hell, there’s surveillance everywhere. Throw in some apocalyptic bible verses, a movie star married to the daughter of a senator soon-to-be-potential President, a porn star and her gaggle, a tech wizard (by his own self-proclamation) and a bunch of neo-marxists, you have yourself a movie. Oh yeah, don’t forget Justin Timberlake, Avon Barksdale and the Highlander. Plus Kevin Smith doing a great M. C. Gainey impersonation (for honest tooth, I thought it was him on first seeing this). This movie off the rails, yo! Shit. Is that dated? That’s probably dated. Dis movie is one blangjango of a flick! There! I made up a new word, plus I think it sounds pretty cool. You’re welcome.
This movie is pretty messed up, not just for the weird casting choices, but for the overall narrative it’s trying to explain. It kinda succeeds, being that it’s not exactly coherent but tangential to it. It’s strange to see Dwayne the Rock Johnson with a head of hair again, at least. I think the material is a little too out of his range, but that’s kinda par for the course for what really is an “action” star. Nice to see him pair with Seann “Stiffler” William again after The Rundown, which was a fun little action movie in its own right. This? There’s a little action. But mostly a whole lot of political and societal anarchy, about 7 years after Fight Club hit the scene. The weird thing is, when I watched this when it first came out I was somewhat skeptical of the whole scenario that plays out. Almost 20 years later? Unfortunately now it just seems like reality playing out, Kelly was just a couple decades off. There’s a ‘prequel’ graphic novel they released that ain’t half bad but still doesn’t help the movie narrative much. Nice attempt at cross platform media but I think this movie was about 5 years before its time in that regard. Pffff! Paper! Does it tie it all together like the Dude’s rug? Not really. A Fun watch though, and nice integrations of some Jane’s Addiction and Pixies songs.
