Review of Falling Down (1993) by Matthew C — 24 Dec 2009

One I've wanted to revisit for a long time. Well worth the wait.

An everyday man is sitting through a traffic jam, when the all the annoyances and pressures welled up suddenly burst out. So he decides to walk. And doing so only serves to fan the flames of his slightly unhinged mind, causing him to lash out at the annoyances of the average American man. While Sergeant Martin Prendergast of the LAPD, is trying to work through his last day before retirement to a happy life with his wife. And by the end of the day, both of their lives will be changed forever.

Well, this is certainly a bit out there for Michael Douglas. But the good news, is that he gives an absolutely marvelous performance. Bill Foster (listed in the credits as D-FENS due to his first identifying feature: his personalized license plate), is an odd character. He sees the flaws in society, such as gangs, and tries to deal with them decently and discretely like a normal person, before lashing out violently. He is what happens when a person that has been kicked so much, just finally snaps. Contrasting him with the quite submerged Sergeant Prendergast makes for a bit of an uneven tone, but an excellent balance in character study. Prendergast's rather dry character doesn't give very much room for a truly marvelous performance, but Duvall brings what greatness he can to the role. Information about the two drastically different men is exposed evenly to give us explanations as to their characters. The setting is a bleak portrayal of Los Angeles. From the blazing heat right down to the cost of soda. But even more so, the film shines a light on many of the problems with our society as a whole, rather than just one town. The script is pretty decent, and works well for the characters. But even a movie as good as this one has problems. One is the pacing. The tension doesn't really build at all until the ending, which seems like it could have just been slapped on at any time. It just plods along like Michael Douglas down the street until he gets to the end of the road, easily having the opportunity to take a shorter or longer route. But overall, the film works very well for itself, and makes for a pretty good watch if you're in the mood for Michael Douglas. I'm giving "Falling Down" 8 phone calls out of 10.

"I'm the bad guy? How did that happen?" -Bill Foster.