Barker is not subtle. Therein lies the problem. The casting was, on the whole, quite strong; and Rathbone in particular gives a fine performance right up to the last twenty minutes or so. And even where I have quibbles (Evans . . . and Rathebone's last twenty), the problem is not the actor but the writing: everything is drawn in bold relief. The background to the characters involve BIG problems. The seething anger in Quaid expresses itself in a TWISTED manner. The victims choose radical self-help, rather than the more common-place choice -- like, the police or just GTFO, for example, etc.
But this itself points to a more fundamental problem: the movie itself is afraid of being subtle for an extended period of time, which is a shame as the camera work, direction, and editing are all really quite good. The core of the movie concerns psychological pain and trauma, and how we avoid discussing/ confronting this facet to ourselves. Yet, despite this deeply "realistic" and mature choice of subjects, the script always seems to veer in the direction of the most dramatic (and dare I say, conventional) route to address the subject -- right up to the Wagnerian strings and dark humor playing through the final scene.
This is a "could have been great" kinda movie. It attempts a great deal. I'm just not convinced that it gets us near that "great deal."
But this itself points to a more fundamental problem: the movie itself is afraid of being subtle for an extended period of time, which is a shame as the camera work, direction, and editing are all really quite good. The core of the movie concerns psychological pain and trauma, and how we avoid discussing/ confronting this facet to ourselves. Yet, despite this deeply "realistic" and mature choice of subjects, the script always seems to veer in the direction of the most dramatic (and dare I say, conventional) route to address the subject -- right up to the Wagnerian strings and dark humor playing through the final scene.
This is a "could have been great" kinda movie. It attempts a great deal. I'm just not convinced that it gets us near that "great deal."