Review of Tusk (2014) by Dillinger P — 15 Oct 2015

Watching Tusk, I really wanted it to succeed as a form of entertainment, it was unique, creepy and ultimately quite funny, however Tusk feels like the end product of a stoners day dream. Wallace and Teddy run a highly popular podcast called The Not See Party, a word play with Nazi Party, in which they air and exploit people for the benefit of their wallets and popularity.

When they humiliate a man titled Kill Bill, who is now plastered over the internet for accidentally chopping his own leg off with a samurai sword, Wallace decides to go to his home town in Canada to exploit him further.

The problem is that Kill Bill is unavailable, permanently, leaving Wallace 12 hours in the middle of nowhere to find a story. What he stumbles across is an old man called Howard How, a worldly story teller who promises him a wealth of knowledge, what Wallace doesnt realize is that Mr How has some seriously sick and utterly bonkers fantasy's, which he is about to become a part of.

You have to admire Kevin Smith, the guy has been a staple of independent film making and big budget Hollywood for 2 decades now, bringing us all sorts of laughter in hilarious fashion and also more recently treading into the world of horror and although he has previously tried to marry the two genres together, Tusk ramps both of them up too 100 and tries to superglue the 2 together, leaving us an intriguing but ultimately flawed film.

Smith's script is actually very good, the first half is extremely solid, weighty and weaves horror, comedy and interesting characters through is unsettling yet fun atmosphere. The second half of the script, with the exception of a few moments, totally dies on its arse and it proof that this time out Smith just couldnt keep it together.

It's a shame because 95% of the cast are all surprisingly terrific, Justin Long is tremendous as the horrible and detestable Wallace, sporting an horrendous mustache and just oozing unpopular school kid turned grease ball, Haley Joel Osment, remeber him? Well he is utterly fantastic as Teddy, Genesis Rodriguez plays Wallace's love interest Ally and is utterly spell binding with both the fun aspect and the emotional, making you really feel for both her and Wallace as he tumbles further into his situation.

The real star however is Michael Parks, who just woo's from start to finish with a wonderful and spellbinding character, Mr How, you cant help but get warmed up and suckered into his stories and he acts as the most vicious chameleon once the ball gets seriously rolling, leaving him a force to be reckoned with.

Tusk then drops one actor and character so out of place, so outrageous, so unneeded that it buckles under the weight of whatever the hell he is trying to do on screen. Johnny Depp or Guy Lapointe (Unsure if Depp is trying to give birth to an alter ego or was that ashamed with his performance he didnt want to be credited for it) doesnt just miss the runway, he lands in the middle of the fucking ocean, 100 miles away.

The movie spends exactly 1 hour building tension, creating character and really laying the building blocks for its bonkers second half, only to just introduce some inspector Clueso character that its tired, boring and hilariously unfunny, he's badly written, he has zero screen presence and we spend 30 minutes of screen time with this guy talking, it takes the wind right out the sails and cripples the film in the worst possible way.

Tusk manages to get some form of composure back in the final moments, but its too little too late, which is pretty grim because the film is doing so well in becoming a unique piece of cinema, that totally harnesses Smith's personality, with sheer horror.

The soundtrack is actually pretty spot on, the camera work is decent, the film looks eerie, full of colour and really well composed. The biggest visual let down is quite possibly the practical effect work but considering the context its placed in, it can be totally shrugged aside as a minor gripe.

A total missed opportunity that should have cut a film crippling character and just stuck to its guns, there is stuff to enjoy here, but watching its downfalls will only leave a bitter taste in your mouth.