Review of Dark Blue (2002) by Ramon G — 23 Mar 2008

More films I've recently seen. Stephen King's "The Mist", "Dark Blue" and the wreched "Southland Tales".

[b]The Mist (2007) - 4.4/10[/b].

Director - Frank Darabont.

Starring - Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, Bill Sadler.

Frank Darabont loves Stephen King. Just look at the films he's made! Unfortunately I don't think Darabont has another "Shawshank Redemption" in him.

"The Mist" is typical Stephen King fare. We have a strange mist that covers a picturesque tourist town, a mist that spawns blood thirsty beasts. Our hero (Thomas Jane) ends up at a local grocery store with his son and unlikeable neighbor (Andre Braugher) when the mist takes over. No one is sure what it is until we witness a young sackboy attacked by huge tentacles. Only a few witness this event so neigbor Braugher is skeptical. The grocery store inhabitants chose sides and some leave with Braugher. But the beast is out there I tell ya! And he wants inside. Of course no that Braugher is gone Jane needs a new human nemisis. Enter Marcia Gay Harden as an obnoxious born-again Christian who preaches that the end is now, and everyone is going to hell! More people die and Jane decides it's time for him, and his remaining followers to escape before Ms. Harden does them more harm than the beasts outside!

That's pretty much it. Cookie-cutter characters, a typical Stephen King story, and very few surprises. Okay maybe a couple, but by that point I had pretty much given up on this film. Stephen King fans will like this, others not so much.

[b]Dark Blue (2003) - 3.7/10[/b].

Director - Ron Shelton.

Starring - Kurt Russell, Brendan Gleeson, Scott Speedman, Ving Rhames, Michael Michele, Dash Mihok, Lolita Davidovich.

Set in LA during the 1992 riots, crooked cops are the focus of this gritty crime drama. Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell) is a corrupt cop with his own sense of justice. He plays by his own rules. His partner is an anxious rookie cop played by Scott Speedman. The backdrop of course is racially torn Los Angeles.

Using the LA riots as a backdrop for a story about corrupt cops is a good idea. However the writer and director didn't do a very good job of piecing this film together. It wants to be "Training Day" but it isn't. Kurt Russell is convincing as a corrupt cop, but the supporting cast is weak and forgettable. And the story kust doesn't mesh, all the way to the showy conclusion. A totally botched effort.

[b]Southland Tales (2007) - 0.5/10[/b].

Director - Richard Kelly.

Starring - Dwayne Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Curtis Armstrong, Nora Dunn, Beth Grant, Jon Lovitz, John Larroquette.

I enjoyed "Donnie Darko" for all it's offbeat irreverence. That made director Richard Kelly one to watch in the future. Will he just took a huge step backwards with the horrific "Southland Tales". It's not only absurd, it's absurdly bad. It's a "comedy/drama" about the apocalypse, politics, the Iraq war, porn stars, and whatever else Kelly could throw in. I stopped the DVD so many times to say "WTF" and I didn't want to restart it. But I did as I kept hoping there would be a method to this madness. There isn't. It's ridiculously bad and totally unwatchable. I'm not sure why anyone wanted to be involved in this crap, and the absence of any A-List stars tells me many wanted no part of this. And he had a much bigger budget than Donnie Darko! Richard Kelly will be lucky if he gets to make another film after this disaster.