Review of The Killing of John Lennon (2007) by Tanya L — 20 Jan 2009

"All words are Chapman's own..." This tentative phrase starts this duffer of a biopic of self-proclaimed "nobody"; Mark Chapman who gunned down surly ex-Beatle John Lennon in New York in 1980. It may explain why the dialogue and (extensive) monologues in the movie are so bloody tedious. The very fact it's a biopic about a dislikable, unsympathetic nobody makes it a pretty pointless exercise in itself.

Suitably "wacky" Jonas Ball (Napoleon Dynamite after a three day bender, with supreme stubble) plays Chapman in a kind of "look-at-me, aren't I barmy?" way that may be right on the money in relation to his subject, or irritating to the extreme- depending on your standpoint. The rest of the characters are acted to TV movie standard at best, and are difficult to feel for or relate to. Even from a historical standpoint, it's got more holes in it than Lennon's corpse. Piddington directs with what some may call visual flair- the film stock itself may have an interestingly grainy quality- but what reveals itself to be an overused bag-of-tricks to pad out a thoroughly unengaging story of an uninteresting man.

If you are a Beatles fan, theres little you won't already know; in fact the whole tale could be told as effectively in the time it takes you to watch the trailers. Plus the movie doesn't include any of Lennon's minor or major compositions (no doubt down to financial reasons). If you're a "Catcher in The Rye" fan (as Chapman was, to ridiculous extremes), avoid this movie like the plague 'cause it may make you miffed with Salinger's classic for it's leading role in this tosh.

My immediate reaction was "I can't believe it's worse than "I'm Not There!" Still, I might still dislike this less than "Double Fantasy". Bleh.