Review of Falling Down (1993) by Peter G — 16 Jan 2011

A film that a close friend of mine recommended to me years ago, "Falling Down" is a very interesting piece of cinema. While it's not handled with the best poise or grace that the subject deserves, the plot takes a humorous and disturbing look at how mundane annoyances can drive a man into insanity.

The story begins with William Foster (Michael Douglas) sitting in traffic. The camera starts to zoom in and shake at random things like flies buzzing around, children crying in other cars and signs flashing, building up to an explosion when William decides to just get the hell out of his car.

When he steps out, another citizen asks what he's doing and William simply responds, "Going home!" On his way home, he uses a pay phone to call his ex-wife Beth (Barbara Hershey) and then proceeds to say nothing. Now out of change, he walks into a Korean market and flips out.

His speech goes on about commercialism and how simple shop owners are ripping off their customers and is, honestly, pretty damn truthful. While not harming the owner, William busts up the shop, buys a soda at a new, lower price and then walks back to the payphone to call his ex-wife again.

After telling Beth that he'll be coming home for their daughter's birthday, William walks straight into Gang territory. When some gangsters try to hassle them, William beats them down with a baseball bat and then continues through the gangland. Later a drive-by occurs and William comes into possession of firearms. He shoots a gangster and then moves along.

At the same time, an old officer on his last day (Robert Duvall) receives a complaint from the same Korean shop owner that William roughed up. He explains to Officer Pendergast that some crazy white guy is going on a rampage. Later in the day, a young Latina woman comes to Pendergrast after her boyfriend and his friends crash their car and are shot by a crazy white guy.

As the plot moves along, it essentially follows a "Cat and Mouse" style of storytelling. We, as viewers, see William hassle people and generally over-react to simple situations and then are treated to Officer Pendergast trying to piece the events together. It's not very tantalizing at almost 2 hours in length.

What is entertaining is watching Michael Douglas. If you know the man's voice, hearing it as a psychopath is incredibly unsettling. His cold, deep growl makes you unsure of his intentions and his actions are so melodramatic that you can never quite figure out if he's going to just gun down anyone.

It works as a great satire of American society in the 90's (and even rings a bit true in today's troubling economic times). Violence in the media and in movies was at an all time high and it's a joy trying to figure out the influences that William must have had. It's also hilarious to see a man blow a pay-phone away when someone gives him lip.

You almost feel like you are William in some scenes. Everyone has had a rough day and just wishes they could punch the crap out of something and seeing it happen is glorious. It sort of delves into your own psyche and makes you wonder if you're as sick and twisted as William.

What doesn't work is the damn cop drama. "Cat and Mouse" films can be very intriguing when done properly, but "Falling Down" doesn't nail that part right. We see far too much of what William is doing for Pendergast's investigation to really be meaningful. We know why William is going on his rampage and watching the cops make assumptions or, generally, just not understand isn't fun.

It doesn't help that Duvall doesn't give a memorable performance. He's so low-key and generic that you can almost picture him smiling at the fat check he must have gotten. When the man was in movies such as "The Godfather," "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Apocalypse Now," you expect something more. Instead, he's just another run of the mill cop.

The supporting characters are also pretty crappy as well. I can understand gang members in an inner city, but the Neo-Nazi doesn't even make sense. His comments about gays and general hatred of African-Americans seems like it's either out of place or trying too hard. Duvall's co-star is bland and even Douglas's onscreen wife doesn't properly show the sense of dread she is going through from hearing her exes voice.

The direction by Joel Schumacher isn't anything to write home about. It moves the plot along alright, but it definitely could have used less exposition. Almost any interaction William has with 1 scene characters is simply him getting angry, roughing things up and then moving along. No development or anything. The action is also a bit extreme at times, but thankfully not gory.

The only other big complaint I have is the actual character of William. I would be fine if his story had him just flipping out one day, but apparently he is the archetype of the "Angry White Man." His past is revealed throughout the film and we learn that he was always violent. While he never physically abused his wife, he was often belligerent and put her through mental anguish. He even has some notions of racism when he speaks to the Korean shop owner. It's incredibly hard to relate to that or root for him. I do like that the ending shows the repercussions of such berserk behavior, so at least the film understands how crazed it's main character is.

But when you take away some of the political subtext, the film can be enjoyable. The action is handled in a very cheesy manner (mostly due to Schumacher's direction) and most of the performances aren't good, but the general idea of the film is what really helps get you through. We all wish we could just tell our daily annoyances to fuck off and it's entertaining to see it happen on film. Not a classic, but worth at least one viewing.