Let's just start out by saying: I loved this movie. I recommended it to all my friends. I even wrote this review. It definitely did not get the attention it deserved. With a somewhat confusing ending and web-like plot, it was intellectually challenging on many levels--a very good thing in movies, but not too popular, as evidenced by the remake of The Manchurian Candidate and the recent flop Syriana. Basically, an upstanding San Diego businessman (Steven Bauer--whom some may recall from the 1983 Scarface) has been busted for drug smuggling. His shallow wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) feels betrayed and in danger. Two cops (Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman) keep her on constant watch, while guarding a corrupt tuna fisherman/coke trafficker Ed Ruiz (Miguel Ferrer) who also happens to be the main testifier against Mr. Bauer. Meanwhile, back in Mexico, morally ambiguous vigilante cop Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro) and his sidekick Manolo execute odd jobs for Gen. Salazar (Tomas Milian) while simultaneously dealing with the fact that Salazar may not actually be as "anti-drug" as he says he is. Politician Bob Wakefield (Michael Douglas) must deal with the drug demons within his own home as he attempts to battle them in his career.
Overall, this movie is bittersweet. Some of the characters get revenge, others don't. Some conflicts are resolved, and some aren't. Mostly this movie is memorable for its portrayal of drugs and drug culture. When you ask most people what should be done with smack addicts, they aren't too concerned..."Oh, ship them off to rehab" "They're all corrupt, amoral excuses for human beings" but what happens when all that gets closer to home? This movie shows the bridges on the gap between the private and the public, especially with the Bob Wakefield storyline. The Catherine Zeta-Jones storyline seemed mainly concerned with one woman's incredible power to survive and pull herself together in the face of loss--and her discarding of any morals about drugs she may have previously had.
OK. Let's talk acting. Basically, watch this movie for Del Toro, if nothing else. Benicio Del Toro is a diamond in the rough--he never overacts, which perhaps lends some to believe he is flat--but everything he does is completely natural and unaffected. For instance, his somewhat stony demeanor is temporarily interrupted by a pure animal reaction when a colleague is killed. Michael Douglas's acting is OK (not great) but I can see him acting. Del Toro I cannot. The very idea of movie cameras surrounding him seems absurd. Another cool part is when Javier (straight for all purposes) pretends to be attracted to Clifton Collins Jr.'s character in a seedy San Diego gay bar so that he can be deceived and led into interrogation. His half-suppressed smirk (which Collins must have interpreted as flirtatiousness) had me convulsed in laughter. For more comic Del Toro goodness, see him as the infamous Dr. Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...an experience not to be missed.
Catherine Zeta-Jones is terrible, for reasons many and colorful. The inflection on her sentences is wrong, her facial expressions are wrong, her character development is wrong. She neither convinces us of her love for Steven Bauer, nor convinces us she is a ready and willing adulteress. And with the drug-dealing thing at the end, that was completely out of the blue. Truly horrible stuff.
I also disliked Michael Keaton's daughter. I'll give her one thing, she did "stoned" really well. So well, in fact, that she felt obliged to show it off for the whole movie, even when her character wasn't supposed to be stoned. I liked the idea of her character--so many great drug movies (such as Scarface, and Carlito's Way) do not have anybody receiving the brunt of drug abuse; it just shows the top lords and their glitzy lives. There is nothing romantic or operatic about her addiction. Yet why, exactly, is she addicted? I don't care that she's a popular prep, they can be depressed too, but she showed no reason or glimpse into Caroline's darker side...just a stoned prep.
Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman were...well, awesome. I loved them as a team. Luis Guzman just did "Luis Guzman" as always--comforting bordering on the vaguely irritating--but Cheadle was completely natural and played off Guzman very well--and was not, for all the comedy, 2 dimensional. His reaction at a tragedy involving Guzman is extremely sad.
I won't go into everyone here, but some minor performances I really liked were Topher Grace as Caroline's well-meaning yet weak dealer boyfriend, and especially Clifton Collins Jr. as the endearingly pathetic psychotic gay assassin Francisco "Frankie Flowers" Flores. Collins has a tendency to completely submerge himself in his role--for example, I was surprised to learn, after watching this movie, that Collins is not actually gay. For more Grade A acting, watch him as ambiguously psychotic gay serial killer Perry Smith in Capote. I thought Frankie was a character with a lot of potential to be interesting (especially in his dinner conversation with Salazar: "I've always liked stereos. Most people don't understand.") I was sad that he didn't have more lines.
The cinematography was again incredible. At times I thought it approached the annoyingly artsy, but symbolically it outlined the impenetrability of different cultures and economic classes, with a cold blue light shadowing the lives of the upper-crust politician and his family, a glimmering golden light showing off the easy lives of San Diego rich whites, and a mud-spattered, dirty-looking front for the story of the independent cop who makes $300 a month.
Overall, some of the acting could have used help, the screenplay was not very good (note quotability factor: nil) and some of Caroline's lines were just embarrassing--but some of the acting, directing, video editing, and cinematography were just too good to miss. And let's not forget how it shows up the drug issue...Conservatives, get ready to revise your opinions. A
Overall, this movie is bittersweet. Some of the characters get revenge, others don't. Some conflicts are resolved, and some aren't. Mostly this movie is memorable for its portrayal of drugs and drug culture. When you ask most people what should be done with smack addicts, they aren't too concerned..."Oh, ship them off to rehab" "They're all corrupt, amoral excuses for human beings" but what happens when all that gets closer to home? This movie shows the bridges on the gap between the private and the public, especially with the Bob Wakefield storyline. The Catherine Zeta-Jones storyline seemed mainly concerned with one woman's incredible power to survive and pull herself together in the face of loss--and her discarding of any morals about drugs she may have previously had.
OK. Let's talk acting. Basically, watch this movie for Del Toro, if nothing else. Benicio Del Toro is a diamond in the rough--he never overacts, which perhaps lends some to believe he is flat--but everything he does is completely natural and unaffected. For instance, his somewhat stony demeanor is temporarily interrupted by a pure animal reaction when a colleague is killed. Michael Douglas's acting is OK (not great) but I can see him acting. Del Toro I cannot. The very idea of movie cameras surrounding him seems absurd. Another cool part is when Javier (straight for all purposes) pretends to be attracted to Clifton Collins Jr.'s character in a seedy San Diego gay bar so that he can be deceived and led into interrogation. His half-suppressed smirk (which Collins must have interpreted as flirtatiousness) had me convulsed in laughter. For more comic Del Toro goodness, see him as the infamous Dr. Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...an experience not to be missed.
Catherine Zeta-Jones is terrible, for reasons many and colorful. The inflection on her sentences is wrong, her facial expressions are wrong, her character development is wrong. She neither convinces us of her love for Steven Bauer, nor convinces us she is a ready and willing adulteress. And with the drug-dealing thing at the end, that was completely out of the blue. Truly horrible stuff.
I also disliked Michael Keaton's daughter. I'll give her one thing, she did "stoned" really well. So well, in fact, that she felt obliged to show it off for the whole movie, even when her character wasn't supposed to be stoned. I liked the idea of her character--so many great drug movies (such as Scarface, and Carlito's Way) do not have anybody receiving the brunt of drug abuse; it just shows the top lords and their glitzy lives. There is nothing romantic or operatic about her addiction. Yet why, exactly, is she addicted? I don't care that she's a popular prep, they can be depressed too, but she showed no reason or glimpse into Caroline's darker side...just a stoned prep.
Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman were...well, awesome. I loved them as a team. Luis Guzman just did "Luis Guzman" as always--comforting bordering on the vaguely irritating--but Cheadle was completely natural and played off Guzman very well--and was not, for all the comedy, 2 dimensional. His reaction at a tragedy involving Guzman is extremely sad.
I won't go into everyone here, but some minor performances I really liked were Topher Grace as Caroline's well-meaning yet weak dealer boyfriend, and especially Clifton Collins Jr. as the endearingly pathetic psychotic gay assassin Francisco "Frankie Flowers" Flores. Collins has a tendency to completely submerge himself in his role--for example, I was surprised to learn, after watching this movie, that Collins is not actually gay. For more Grade A acting, watch him as ambiguously psychotic gay serial killer Perry Smith in Capote. I thought Frankie was a character with a lot of potential to be interesting (especially in his dinner conversation with Salazar: "I've always liked stereos. Most people don't understand.") I was sad that he didn't have more lines.
The cinematography was again incredible. At times I thought it approached the annoyingly artsy, but symbolically it outlined the impenetrability of different cultures and economic classes, with a cold blue light shadowing the lives of the upper-crust politician and his family, a glimmering golden light showing off the easy lives of San Diego rich whites, and a mud-spattered, dirty-looking front for the story of the independent cop who makes $300 a month.
Overall, some of the acting could have used help, the screenplay was not very good (note quotability factor: nil) and some of Caroline's lines were just embarrassing--but some of the acting, directing, video editing, and cinematography were just too good to miss. And let's not forget how it shows up the drug issue...Conservatives, get ready to revise your opinions. A