Review of Undertow (2004) by Megan O — 09 Jul 2005

Director: David Gordon Green.

Starring: Jamie Bell, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, Devon Alan.

3 stars out of 4.

I wrote a (far too lengthy) review for this film a few days ago after I viewed it, but, unfortunately, silly technology complications lost my review somewhere in cyberspace. So I will write an abbreviated version.

It stands as testimony to the film that I am basing the following comments on what I can remember of my lost entry, rather than the film itself, because I find the former to be more memorable.

David Gordon Green can't direct. His sloppy and nauseating [i]All the Real Girls [/i]is one of my most hated films of all time, as it is truly just a replica of the wretched [i]Garden State,[/i] but with some extra BS thrown in for flavor. Well, needless to say, he certainly improved his filmography with [i]Undertow[/i], but his direction can still use a lot of work. It was as though he was given a low-end digital camera, and then went crazy with the "special effects" (stuff you just don't do - like cheesy "posterizing", and "negative" effects, just to name a couple). The man is an amateur. An insultingly pretentious amateur.

[i]Undertow[/i] is more genre-driven than [i]All the Real Girls[/i], and that was probably Green's saving grace. It is a steadily paced drama/thriller - a cat and mouse chase, really - with excellent performances by all involved. Lucas does a fabulous job as the menacing uncle, determined to hunt down his refugee nephews. Jamie Bell -otherwise known as the remarkable and spunky "Billy Elliot"- gives a great performance as the older of the two nephews, but I have come to expect no less from Bell. The reputation of the excellent cast dissipates when Shiri Appleby's character is introduced, as she is no more than a horrific charicature - a disturbing cross-breed between Natalie Portman, Shannen Doherty, Edward Furlong, and a mullet. The story trails off and gets a bit pointless around this time, but the ending picks up again nicely.

Overall, the film's second half hour segment is very strong, the performances are terrific, and its entertainment value makes it worth while, despite some minor, yet noticable, weaknesses.