Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with two Brian Cox movies that played at Sundance this year. One is a thriller based on a Jack Ketchum novel and the other is a prison-break movie. Both I have some problems with, but neither is horrible. Flawed is the word I’m looking for.
RED
This one has an interesting history, originating as a Lucky McKee (MAY) movie, but he was replaced by another director (Trygve Allister Diesen). Unlike other director who leave or are removed, Lucky’s name is still on the film as a co-director.
I’m curious as to what the explanation on that is.
At any rate, I was down to see it just based on the fact that it was a Brian Cox starrer. I’ve spoken of my love of his work many times in my time on AICN and was really excited to see the flick.
Maybe I just don’t like Jack Ketchum or the way his stories unfold. I know it’s ignorant to say that since I haven’t read his work, but judging on the three movies I’ve seen based on his novels I’d have to say that if they’re any indication of the pacing and structure of his books then I won’t be a fan.
THE LOST, directed by Chris Silvertson, is a well-made film, but ultimately one that got on my nerves (but kudos for ample Misty Mundae nudity) and my favorite of the three Ketchum books that have been made is THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, but that’s based on a true story and there’s not much you can do to change the structure of what happened.
RED has some strong performances, but I found that while others around me were getting bored with the movie that I was liking it, holding on to the hope that the slow build was leading to something. On the surface it’s a revenge story about a good man whose dog (the last gift from his now dead wife) is brutally killed by a group of punk kids with influential parents.
At first Cox tries to do the right thing. He finds out who these kids are and goes to their parents, wanting nothing more than an apology and a little justice in the form of parental punishment. When that doesn’t work, he goes to the police. When that doesn’t work he goes to his lawyer. When that doesn’t work he goes to the press.
Of course the kids and the rich families don’t appreciate the situation escalates to something that can’t be taken back.
Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Unfortunately the filmmaking is stale. The script is okay, the performances are solid all across the board, but the filmmaking is so stale that it infects the good parts of the movie.
Cox delivers a heartfelt speech explaining just how his wife and son died and plays it for all it’s worth, but the camera just kind stays in a medium shot on his face, adding no energy to his monologue. The big finale is shot so poorly that there’s little to no emotional impact when the shit really goes down and people you’ve been following get hurt.
Cox and young actors Noel Fisher and Kyle Gallner all give great performances, especially Gallner who plays the good kid in the rotten bunch. His brother is the main asshole kid and Gallner is torn between loyalty to his brother and family and the knowledge that they’re doing horrendous shit to this nice guy.
Also in the film (for a few minutes anyway) is Robert Englund as the father of the third asshole kid. Englund rarely gets a chance to flex his dramatic muscles, but he’s a really good actor and it was nice seeing him get a moment to play in the dramatic.
RED doesn’t get a pass from me, but it’s not a horrendous movie. It’s slow, the filmmaking is pretty poor, but the actors do their best to elevate the film.
THE ESCAPIST
In a lot of ways I want to be harder on this movie than it deserves. Unlike RED, the filmmaking is top notch, the production design great, but the script is all over the place… not in a good, fun Terry Gilliam way.
What you have is a prison break flick. Cool, those are fun. It stars Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Liam Cunningham and Dominic Cooper. All good character actors, so there’s another checkmark in the good column.
Somehow the movie just doesn’t work. They start with the end (a device I’m getting really tired of by now), which set off warning flags with me, but when I realized that they were inter-cutting from the planning of the escape to the actual escape I was interested. They’d show them set up something small then cut to the escapees actually using it in their escape.
That was pretty smart, but there is surprisingly little character development outside of Cox’s character. We come to find out that his estranged daughter is in critical care after a drug overdose, so Cox has the drive to break out in order to see his daughter. But we never really are told why his crew want to get out. I’m sure there are good reasons, but I think they only mention a parole being denied to one of the other guys, but that’s it.
That could be forgiven if it wasn’t for the absolutely horrible eye-rolling ending. It’s one of those endings that make you go, “Really? Reallllllyyyyy?” As tacked on and unnecessary as the ending for HAUTE TENSION was, the rest of the movie could survive the shitty ending. Unfortunately the rest of ESCAPIST can’t survive its shitty ending.
Which is sad because the movie looks good, the direction is fine, the acting is fine, but the film felt like it was about 2 drafts away from being the movie it should have been.
At least that was my impression.
I’m in heavy catch-up mode, but look out for a tag-team review with Rav coming soon… the most unique double feature any critic caught at a Sundance theater this year, guaranteed.
I'm a little crazy for jumping right into another film fest, but I left Park City to go immediately to the Santa Barbara Film Fest. Hoping to lock down some good interviews and see some decent flicks, but I still have a ton left over from Sundance, so hopefully my brain doesn't explode in the next week.
Keep 'em pointed here (meaning your eyeballs, not your nipples, but that's okay, too).
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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