Southland Tales

"Southland heads too far West"

Richard Kelly, by some, is considered a genius for his debut work on Donnie Darko. A film that hit it big on video in rental stores and developed a cult following. By others, he is a one-hit wonder and many point to his sophomore effort Southland Tales as proof. So, is it really that bad? Mmmmm, yes and no.

The Good: Southland Tales is an epic reimagining of the apocalypse set in the future in LA. It shares some similarities with our world and time feels out of joint. Parallels between the drugs and the new energy sources are strong. At times, the parallels between the future in the movie and now is so similar that it feels like brow-beating. However, the world is definitly unique if you can understand it. The dialogue is intriguing at points with some interesting scenes holding everything together. Most importantly, with it being Richard Kelly, the visuals are fantastic. Even when the plot or the acting feels like someone just stuck a suck bomb on set and walked off, the visuals are vitalizing and energetic. Since the subject matter is so trippy, then the visuals need to match it. also, the actors are pretty fun to watch. Jon Lovitz is a creep and Sean William Scott shows he can act. The Rock isn't bad but pretty much everyone else besides these people and Cheri Oteri suck. So why is this good? Because it is so funny to see so many random actors and actresses in this film. My God, it has Raiden!

The Bad: The plot is so epic and Kelly tries to squeeze in so much, that it is quite easy to get lost. Also, at times the CGI used seems very crappy for such an ornate future. Also, the plot itself. When everything comes to a head at the end, there are several plot lines and threads that feel useless and simply added in for the ability to hire more actors/actresses. Another terrible thing about the film, is the dialogue and the acting. Many of the actors have very little to work with and it relies too much on style and not enough on substance. And what is the style? Pseudo christian mythology turned urban future style...complete garbage.

What should have happened with this film, is Kelly should have spent more time developing the script and the paring it down. It is six parts long with the first three parts being graphic novels that pre set the movie, which is the last three parts. Honestly, the movie does seem like a crazy graphic novel come to life and I have thoroughly enjoyed the first graphic novel. The problem is, that in graphic novels, especially the old ones, the dialogue makes little to no sense and comes across ridiculous when read aloud. Kelly has written a great six part graphic novel set. Here's hoping that one day they make graphic novels out of the last three movie parts.

Suggestion: Watch it once on DVD, don't buy it. It is interesting, but needs work.

2.0 out of 5

Wannabe