Journey to the End of the Night (2006)

Director:

Eric Eason

Writer (WGA):

Eric Eason (written by)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

You can escape anything but your destiny.

Plot:

The tale of a son and his father separately plotting to escape the desolation of their lives in the lurid underworld of Brazil's sex industry...

Plot Keywords:

Brazil | Suitcase | Prostitute | Cocaine | Pimp

Cast

Brendan Fraser	...	Paul
Mos Def	...	Wemba
Scott Glenn	...	Sinatra
Alice Braga	...	Monique
Catalina Sandino Moreno	...	Angie
Ruy Polanah	...	The Soothsayer
Matheus Nachtergaele	...	Nazda
Gilson Adalberto Gomes	...	Samy
Milhem Cortaz	...	Rodrigo
Luke Denis Nolan	...	Lazare
Antonio Pinto	...	Detective Moosbruger
Vadin Nikitin	...	Boris
Ana Paula Demambro	...	Drena
Ana Pereira	...	Lola
Cristina Sverzuti	...	Prostitute #2

Also Known As:

12 Horas até o Amanhecer (Brazil) (cable TV title)
Am Rande der Nacht (Germany) (video title)
The Little Thief (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and sexual content, pervasive language and some drug use.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA | Germany | Brazil

Language:

English | Portuguese | Yoruba

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Germany:16 | Singapore:M18 | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Brazil

Company:

FilmColony

Movie Connections:

References Sonic the Hedgehog (1991/I) (VG)

Silly Plot, Bone-Head Characters, No Point At All

Journey to the End of the Night is garbage.

I picked out this stinker in a hurry. The synopsis on the DVD cover seemed interesting at first glance. Scott Glenn was in it. But most of all it was set in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Exotic locations fascinate me. Big mistake!

The plot revolves around the owner of a brothel (Glenn) and his degenerate son (Brendan Fraser). The clueless pair stumble across a suitcase full of heroin, plot to sell it and divide the loot. We soon find out the coke-head son plans to double-cross his father. The tale is complicated by the sudden, unexpected death of their co-conspirator, a cocaine-launderer whom the father replaces with a dishwasher he hastily recruits from his brothel's kitchen. The story goes downhill from there.

The plot is shot full of holes. As a consequence, I was tempted to pull the DVD and watch cable news. Instead I stuck it out. Another big mistake.

Virtually every character in the movie is brain-dead and morally twisted. Fraser and his cronies are about as stupid and believable as the Keystone Cops or the Three Stooges. There is no character development, possibly because characters drop in and out of the story for no apparent reason (destiny?). Consequently, the action is contrived. Predictably, a bunch of characters are destined to be bullet-ridden, but by the end of the film, who really cares?

To make matters worse, the script is a poorly written piece of junk. Characters repeat themselves time and time again, either because the writer thinks we're as dumb as his characters or he wanted the film to last more than five minutes. As a result, the actors either sleepwalk (Glenn) through their role or play it so over the top (Fraser) as to be farcical. All the other actors similarly struggle with the poor script and weak plot.

What is the point of this pretentious tripe? It's hidden, no doubt, somewhere in the taglines ("You can escape anything but your destiny," and "Where life is cheap... and hope is priceless."). If you can make something out of that nonsense, you're wiser than I. This movie is pure fluff.

Oh, and since all the action takes place at night, Sao Paulo, Brazil is nothing but a dark, yellow-orange blur. They could have filmed this crap under sodium vapor lights in the streets of East LA and you couldn't tell the difference.

I rate it one star because this dreary journey is thankfully short and finally does end.