Review of Walker (2012) by Ben U — 10 Aug 2008

What an incredibly delightful surprise! Alex Cox's film lives triumphantly in it's own little world nestled somewhere between Sam Peckinpah and Terry Gilliam. The film is an absurd, ridiculous comic tragedy and I loved every minute of it.

A lot of films that tend to want to give a political message like to bang their drum loudly in sentimentality and melodrama, treating their audience like lap dogs to intellectuals, but coming off as pretentious jack offs, but Cox's [i]Walker [/i] says "fuck that, what is the use?" and just goes all out over the top, stating how absurdly grotesque and senile power can make men; living in it wholeheartedly, gasping in dust and blood from the opening frame to the last.

The film is as radical and mad as Ed Harris' Walker who ruled Nicaragua from 1855 to 1857. And as much as the film is a story of this man in some form or another, it is a very direct political statement made in regards to what Reagan did to Nicaragua in the 80s. To what the U.S has done for decades in half a dozen Central American countries.

From every primal comic book scream to slow mo bullet to the heart, to the surreal upbeat score, to the modern product placement and beyond, the film is loud and proud just like America. Just like Walker. A man of desperate contradictions and a death wish to boot, who'd turn on his closest friends or brothers if it meant he'd stay in control of the chaos.