Short Review: Deathwish with lip gloss.

I've been putting off reviewing this film for a while now. This is for no other reason than I really didn't have anything to say about it. Since I've put up two posts about Uwe Boll this week, I figured I could finally get to this misfire.

The reason I don't have anything to say about this movie is because this movie doesn't have anything to say either. Jodie Foster plays Erica, a public radio personality (one of those who has an insufferably calm voices and blathers about nothing with sincere self-importance) who transforms into a gun toting Bernie Getz wannabe after her half-man, boyfriend gets bludgeoned to death by bad guys. Erica is shadowed by the investigating cop Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard) who suspects the mopey chick is responsible for shooting a bunch of people who, quite frankly, have it coming.

The problem with the movie is twofold. First, it doesn't want to commit to anything. Erica begins her vigilante streak by killing bad guys in self defense by luring villains into harassing her but eventually makes the descent into flat out murder. The film never fully and plainly condemns nor applauds her actions. Erica suffers with the moral balancing act revenge brings but she never comes down on either side. The people she kills have it coming and their deaths don't come with any sympathetic treatment. The fact is that a guy molesting riders on a subway who pulls a knife on a woman is begging for a gun wound. By the end of the movie there is very little actually said about revenge, society or good film making.

The other problem is that this movie, for all of its inability to be up-front with its point, is painfully self aware. Look at the character names - Erica Bain - "Bane" get it? The old word for Killer, death or a curse. Detective Mercer - Mercy. Ain't we clever. The script by television writers Roderick and Bruce A. Taylor stinks of cheesy and easy bits meant to give the illusion of meaning and depth but actually provides very little.


Related Reviews:
Jodie Foster movies
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Inside Man (2001)


Other Critic's Reviews:
It's Movie Time
Decent Films Guide

Michael Douglas plays an unemployed defense worker who snaps and goes on a rambling shooting spree. He offers a pretty good performance, but his hard work is undermined by poor dialog and a fumbling script. In its desire to show the main character's moral confusion in a morally empty world, the film winds up completely without a point. A film without a point is a film worth ignoring.




Related Reviews:
Michael Douglas movies
Basic Instinct (1992)
The Sentinel (2006)


Other Critic's Reviews:
The Stop Button
Beyond Hollywood