Review of Ed Wood (1994) by Cameron J — 06 Nov 2011

"Someone to care for, to be there for; I have Ed Wood." The only time you'll catch me making a reference to the junk that is "Family Guy" after its return from cancellation is when I'm using it to make fun of something worse, and let me tell you, Ed wood is probably the only thing worse than the newer "Family Guy" episodes. Well, him, and the newer "South Park" episodes, "Louie", "The Middle", - oh lord - "Glee" and, well, all sorts of other acclaimed new TV shows that actually stink. The entertainment industry is dying, little by little, and the whole world is falling in love with the swill that's replacing it all. Music dead and gone, and TV is heading for the door, because "How I Met Your Mother" and J.J. Abrams can't keep going forever, but thank Stanley Kubrick in Heaven that film is still going strong, which isn't to say that it's always been and will always be spotless. We've always had and will always have people like Ed Wood, Jr., who have been taking their stabs at film in an attempt to bring it down, but they're always either drowned out, or ironically made into a good film, as we can see here with the lunatic that was Mr. Wood having his bumpy story told sharply by... Tim Burton? Okay, now Burton is a genuinely really good director, as we can particularly see here, but he's one that's never too far from his fair share of flaws, and sure enough, he's made some missteps here.

Okay, now, this film faults in a fashion that seems like a nitpick, and, well, it borders on it. Burton is a man with a fine taste in style and a unique taste on faithfulness sometimes, but he's often faithful to a fault in those cases, and that's no different here, where his black-and-white throwback to the '50s is unique and fascinating, but too outstanding, so much so that it damages our resonance with this as a study on someone, thus causing many tone changes to feel rather bumpy. This gimmick dilutes the effectiveness of the story and leaves the film to just feel like a lost film of the lost time, keeping us from getting terribly invested. Well, yeah, that's all I've got under flaws, but that doesn't necessarily make this another "Fight Club". In fact, a shortage of flaws is often an element of an imperfect film, as it reflects the averageness and lack of effort into the film, creating lulls in engagement, and although you won't entirely fall out of the film, it's hard to stay too attached to this film. Still, although the film's resonance is diluted by its own style, it remains a unique style, nevertheless, and although it doesn't completely capture the story, it captures the tone, whereas the performers keep everything else going.

This black-and-white cinematography and undeniably impressive, not just because its such a unique style for a modern film, but because it holds up, and say what you will about Roger Ebert - because lord knows that I will after "Spawn" -, but he hit the nail right on the head when he said that the cinematography really capture the sleaze of the '50s. Still, as I said earlier, it does it too well and just puts into the film, rather than the story, and the performers sure aren't helping, especially that darn Johnny Depp and Martin Landau. No, but seriously though, Depp has shown time-and-again that he's one of those handful of deeply transformative actors, and sure enough, he's virtually unrecognizable, even with his distinctive burst of charisma. He keeps the film going and keeps oh so very entertaining as he tours you through the mind of Ed Wood, Jr., and although the resonance-damaging gimmick is against him, he still gives us fascinating insight in his taste and how his dream could have blinded his vision. Still, just as much, if not more of a standout is Martin Landau as everyone's favorite blood-sucker, or at least he use to be. Even if he wasn't caked in prosthetics and doing a great job at the accent, Landau would still be impossible to recognize, really capturing the personality and layers to Bela Lugosi in a very human and compelling way, conveying the pains and wants of the icon as he suffers more than just his stardom slipping. Depp and Landau both give powerhouse, transformative performances, and with their chemistry with each other and the rest of the fine cast really bring life to this picture, and were a lesser team to take on this project, it would have died under the weight of its own pretense, but as it stands, it's thoroughly entertaining.

Overall, its gimmicky style summons pretense to drown out resonance in the storyline, causing it to run together and lose much of its effectiveness, but in spite of it all, the story remains compelling enough, and the strikingly transformative performances by Johnny Depp and Martin Landau are captivating enough, that Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" is ultimately left standing tall as a thoroughly entertaining and fascinating study on the lows and... well, more lows of the cult icon.

3/5 - Good.