REDACTED (Brian De Palma, 2007, USA) Please redact this movie from your queue! De Palma delivers a visceral slaughterhouse of a film that misses its target entirely and becomes almost comical in its ineptitude. REDACTED tries to become a Peter Watkins docu-drama (see my reviews for PUNISHMENT PARK & THE WAR GAME) but is too shallow and insipid; the soldiers are one dimensional video-game caricatures, the dialogue is laughably juvenile, and the rape scene drives the plot (meaning the story’s tail wags the dog, so to speak). There is a good movie buried amid this disaster but De Palma instead chooses to assault us with his polemic; he doesn’t show us any new or relevant insight into the war or those involved and the final photographs that end the film are horrific without context…they are present for only an physical impact like getting kicked in the gut. The director tries to channel THE WILD BUNCH but his characters, though violent and selfish, have no redeeming qualities and are laughable stereotypes…unlike the anti-heroes of the Peckinpah classic. This film fails on every level and should be edited for content leaving a blank DVD…which would be much more enlightening. (F-)
It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
REDACTED (Brian De Palma, 2007, USA) Please redact this movie from your queue! De Palma delivers a visceral slaughterhouse of a film that misses its target entirely and becomes almost comical in its ineptitude. REDACTED tries to become a Peter Watkins docu-drama (see my reviews for PUNISHMENT PARK & THE WAR GAME) but is too shallow and insipid; the soldiers are one dimensional video-game caricatures, the dialogue is laughably juvenile, and the rape scene drives the plot (meaning the story’s tail wags the dog, so to speak). There is a good movie buried amid this disaster but De Palma instead chooses to assault us with his polemic; he doesn’t show us any new or relevant insight into the war or those involved and the final photographs that end the film are horrific without context…they are present for only an physical impact like getting kicked in the gut. The director tries to channel THE WILD BUNCH but his characters, though violent and selfish, have no redeeming qualities and are laughable stereotypes…unlike the anti-heroes of the Peckinpah classic. This film fails on every level and should be edited for content leaving a blank DVD…which would be much more enlightening. (F-)
