*photo by Wired.com*

Nobuo Uematsu to score 2 more Final Fantasy related titles. The maestro is back on everyone’s love-or-hate RPG franchise. Wired.com ran an interview with Uematsu-san stating that he has 2 more FF related projects on the line besides FFXIV. What titles will these be, nobody knows. But he promised that they’ll be revealed some time this year. TGS? Probably.

Star Ocean 4 bound for PS3? Online gaming rental site GameFly has a listing of Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope in one of their PS3 webpages… that’s it really. Nothing official or whatsoever so please — categorize this under your PS3 J-RPG rumor bin. If ever SO4 does jump to the PS3, can they please add Japanese voices, some script tweaks and possibly hand-drawn portraits? God I hope so…

Splinter Cell: Conviction and Red Steel 2 delayed to 2010. Screw Red Steel 2 because I really don’t give a shit (sorry Wii owners). But the new Splinter Cell?! Goddammit. Fall 2009 is turning out to be the worst Fall videogame season ever. Just exactly how many supposed 2009 A-list games are being pushed back to 2010 in order to give Modern Warfare 2 and Halo ODST the space/numbers they need? This has gotta end.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 sneaks out in US stores on September 29. At least Ryu Hayabusa and his ninja gals hid away from the bombardment of delays with a confirmed late September release date. Sweetness, and I personally can’t wait to try out the new offline/online co-op mode with my buddies.

DJ Caruso tapped to direct EA’s Dead Space movie. I’ve been somewhat a fan of Caruso’s works, such as Disturbia and Eagle Eye, so this could be fun. Just please don’t include Mr ‘no no no no no no’ Shia LaBeouf because it just wouldn’t fit. Hell, protagonist Isaac Clarke should keep his mouth shut for the rest of the movie to retain the geniune tone of the material. Hmm, guess we won’t prolly see that live-action adapation of Y The Last Man anytime soon…

Warren Ellis is writing an Arthurian movie. Holy crap that’s badass. Aside from his Marvel Anime projects and other funnybook writing gigs, this is just enthralling. I can already imagine swords and shields clashing along with an epic storyline. Wow just… wow. Not exactly the biggest Ellis fan mind you, but I did enjoy GI Joe Resolute and I’m expecting the same fanservice results.

DJ Caruso, director of Disturbia and Eagle Eye (and currently reported to be working on Y: The Last Man) has signed on to direct a movie of the EA sci-fi zombie horror videogame Dead Space, according to Variety.

Dead Space takes place on a mining ship infested by reanimated human corpses called Necromorphs. It’s a third-person shooter using that over-the-shoulder perspective seen in the likes of Resident Evil 4 and 5 and Gears of War. Its Alien-like plot hook is that the zombifications began when something was brought back to the ship from an off-limits planet.

But the game is much more like Paul WS Anderson’s Event Horizon, with the artefact triggering violent hysteria among the ship’s crew, and the player piecing this back-story together through the discovery of ship logs and audio recordings. 

An animated prequel to the game, Dead Space: Downfall, was released to DVD last year. A game sequel, Dead Space: Extraction, is in development.

The game itself is decent enough, but it’s very obviously a tribute to the films mentioned above, plus any number of other sci-fi and horror sources, filmic and literary. The player’s character is called Isaac Clarke. From Asimov and Arthur C. Do you see? Translating it from a game back to a single film is going to be a tricky prospect if Caruso doesn’t want it to seem completely derivative. 

He managed to make a silk purse from the potential sow’s ear of a teen Rear Window remake however, so I’m cautiously optimistic that he might find a similarly clever spin here.

Grandes noticias para los jugones. Electronic Arts ha decidido producir una película de acción real sobre su videojuego Dead Space, uno de los grandes títulos del pasado 2.008. Para ello la compañía ha elegido al director D.J. Caruso que ya ha demostrado parte de su talento en películas como Disturbia o Eagle Eye. El juego, que ya ha tenido película de animación, gozaba como grandes virtudes de un impresionate guión y de una atmósfera opresiva y envolvente, algo que sin duda usará muy a su favor de futura película. En Dead Space, un ingeniero que forma parte de la tripulación de una nave de rescate, acude a la llamada de una estación minera en problemas. Allí, con la ayuda de su útil armadura y un arsenal de armas cortantes, deberá enfrentarse a los antiguos pobladores de la gigantesca nave, ahora convertidos en peligrosísimos engendros debido a un virus alienígena. Al tiempo que intenta salvar su propia vida y la de sus compañeros, tratará de encontrar una respuesta al suceso y descubrir los secretos ocultos de la nave. Actualmente EA ya prepara la segunda y tercera entregas del juego, a la vez que busca guionistas para la película.

Variety reports that the Electronic Arts hit video game Dead Space is on course to become a sci-fi/horror film, with Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso attached to direct.

The producers, EA and Caruso have been listening to takes from prospective screenwriters, and once they set a writer and EA signs off on a creative direction, they will auction the property to studios. That will likely happen in early September.

Dead Space is set in the 26th century in deep space, where an engineer who responds to a distress signal from a mining ship finds the vessel infested with monstrous creatures called Necromorphs. The creatures are human corpses, reanimated by an alien virus.

Dead Space is not only famous for the amazingly creepy in-game atmosphere, but also introduced the new dismemberment feature which allows players to specifically target their attacker’s limbs to slow them down or disarm them (quite literally).

EA launched the game in 2008 and is working on the second and third installments.

Source: ComingSoon

In an interview with Wizard Magazine, Shia LeBeouf said he is no longer interested in playing Yorick Brown in the adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn’s amazing Y: The Last Man comic series. In the comics, Yorick and his Capuchin monkey Ampersand are the last surviving males of a plague that killed off all men. Yorick makes his way across the country, a land of women learning how to survive as well, in search of his girlfriend, Beth, whom he was about to propose to when the plague hit. You understand what I just said right? Shia LeBeouf is giving up the opportunity to be surrounded by hundreds of beautiful women, for hours on end, for three to four months, because it’s too much like his Transformers character, Sam Witwicky.

“You take Sam and you put a monkey on his shoulder. I don’t know if that’s a big differential. It seems like he’s the ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation again.” He adds that he’s not willing to make Y currently, and that he may be too old to play the role when it does come around. With those rumors circling about what his meeting with Oliver Stone really entailed, I think he’s making a break for more “mature” films. Y: The Last Man was originally slated to be directed by LeBeouf’s Disturbia and Eagle Eye partner, DJ Caruso who is currently working with producing partner Masi Oka (Heroes) on The Defenders. No word on whether Caruso is out.

Li não lembro onde que o Spielberg, diretor executivo, queria que as pessoas saissem do cinema desligando os celulares, Ipods, apagando seus profiles no MySpace, etc, efeito parecido com o que ele conseguiu em Tubarão, quando o pavor das pessoas parece ter diminuido consideravelmente o número de nadadores nas praias por um bom tempo. Pena que ficou só na intenção inicial mesmo, na execução do DJ Caruso, isso virou apenas mais um esquecível filme de ação / perseguição / conspiração cheio de explosões e correria para um twist final sem tanto sentido.

Controle Absoluto tem um começo legal, onde somos conduzidos, com uma venda nos olhos e de forma alucinada, junto com os personagens de Shia LaBeouf (sempre muito bem, esse garoto tem futuro) e Rosario Dawson, em sequencias de tirar o fôlego mesmo, conseguindo extrair o melhor do que se pode esperar de um filme desse tipo. Mas essa empolgação toda vai por água abaixo assim que conhecemos a tal força que controla tudo, e em constatar o quanto essa força é frágil (assim como o roteiro), não batendo com o que vimos nos eventos que antecedem a revelação. E da metade em diante o filme  se arrasta até um final enfadonho e mais clichê que queijo branco com goiabada.

1/4

Rodrigo Jordão

Tur ir tāds viens moments: psihopātisks narkotirgonis ar iesauku Vinnijs Pūks (D’Onofrio), kurš palamu ieguvis pateicoties faktam, ka viņam no nelabu vielu šņaukšanas reiz nokrita deguns un nācās pielīmēt mākslīgo, stāv sava lauku rančo pagalmā ar tālvadības pulti rokās. Drīz vien no garāžas izbrauc radiovadāma mašīnīte ar trīs iesprostotiem baložiem kabīnē, pēkšņi no slēpņiem ar gaisa šautenēm rokās iznirst Vinnija rokaspuiši, kas dažu sekunžu laikā pilnā apjomā imitē atentātu pret Dž.F.Kenediju ar rezultatīvākām beigām. Pēc tam narkodīleris Pūks dodas mājā nedaudz iegrauzt cilvēka smadzenes.

Ja ne šādas detaļas, tad režisora Karūzo debijas filma būtu labs, bet ne pārāk spilgts trilleris par džeku, kas atrodas kaut kur tīklā pa vidu starp draughiem narkomāniem, kuratoriem-policistiem un psihopātiem-bandītiem, pie tam vēl cenšas spēlēt savu spēli, taču tā – ir gluži vienkārši brīži, kuros viņš cenšas darboties ar savu galvu, nevis atražot tādas ļoti klasiskas “noir” žanra klišejas. Tā arī nespēju saprast, viņam Holivuda ir noticējusi vai nē? Droši vien, ka ir.

in 2008 martcore says
apm.ņurd

Shia LaBeouf sous surveillance

Après nous avoir livré une adaptation contemporaine de Fenêtre sur Cour avec Paranoïak, D.J. Caruso s’attaque ici à La Mort aux Trousses. La référence est peut-être moins évidente mais elle est belle et bien présente.

Comme pour son précédent film, Caruso livre une œuvre de notre temps, avec une nouvelle fois, une grande place accordée à la technologie (portable, caméras de surveillance…). Il va même plus loin ici puisqu’on frôle parfois la science fiction. Si l’on peut voir L’Oeil du Mal comme une critique de notre société sous constante surveillance, l’intérêt est ailleurs.

Ce qui intéresse le réalisateur, c’est l’énergie du film, sa vitesse, son mouvement. En partant d’un concept repris à Matrix ou plus récemment à La Vengeance dans la Peau (suivre aveuglément les indications d’une personne omniciente au téléphone), L’Oeil du Mal avance avec une épuration étonnante. Le cinéaste n’essaie pas de nous perdre dans une intrigue trop compliquée, ce qu’il veut, c’est nous balader d’un espace à un autre (le changement de décor incessant) avec (souvent) une belle simplicité. Une franche réussite.

Shia átmegy akcióhősbe, és megmenti Amerikát a Gonosz Kompjútertől… Eagle Eye kritika.

Eagle Eye (2008)

“If you want to live you will obey”

Ki a rendező: A világszerte elismert és népszerű D.J. Caruso, aki ilyen névvel csak garantáltan komoly rendező lehet. Emberünk a sorozatok világában bontogatta szárnyait, majd egy hirtelen (?) gondolattól vezérelve – jópár pályatársához hasonlóan – váltott, és elkészítette első egész estés filmjét, a Disturbiát.

Ki játszik benne: Napjaink talán legfelkapottabb fiatal színésze, Shia LaBeouf, aki első főszerepét pont Caruso barátunk ominózus fenti filmjében kapta. Abszolúte rejtély számomra hogy miért, de Shia barátunk karrierje azóta rakétaként indult meg felfelé (Transformers; Indy 4; New York, I Love You). Jelenleg éppen a Transformers 2-t forgatja Michael Bay-jel. Egészségére. Isten útjai kifürkészhetetlenek.

Shia barátunknak Michelle Monaghan asszisztál a nagy akciózás közepette. Őt a Kiss Kiss Bang Bang-ből és a Gone Baby Gone-ból ismerhetjük.

Mi a sztori: Shiának nincs pénze, aztán egy jótékonykodó ATM-nek köszönhetően lesz jó sok (ez gyanús). A város másik végében Michelle éppen baránőivel kajál egy helyi gyorsétkezdében (ez nem gyanús). Telefon megcsörren itt (Shia menj oda!), telefon megcsörren ott (Michelle menj ide!). A srác és a csaj találkoznak, majd némi komplikáció után a rejtélyes idegen közli velük: vagy Washingtonba utaztok most azonnal, vagy búcsút mondhattok az életeteknek…

Tovább is van>>

Feeling like I needed to get out, I decided to go to the Movie Site to see what was on at Blue Route, Tokai, Cape Town. After little deliberation (there’s not much worth watching other than “super soft” films), I decided that Eagle Eye, directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan, sounded best. Plus, my boyfriend would like it. So off we went.

Genre
Not expecting much, it was quite gripping. It is a thriller, and since it’s not too predictive, that makes it bearable. The “ringing phone” idea (from movies such as “The Ring” and the re-re-redirected/filmed “When A Stranger Calls”) is heavily applied to this film in a fairly creative way. I jumped in my seat once or twice, cringed a few times, but never had to cover my eyes. Other genres it falls into, according to Rotten Tomatoes, are action and mystery.

Themes
The film is not very realistic if one knows a little about computers and networking systems or artificial intelligence, but seems to give off somewhat of an anti-government sentiment.

The American government (particular administration unclear) is seen as fearful, forceful, unhelpful, obsessed with national security, keeping secrets from itself to a destructive extent and therefore somewhat ineffective and plain stupid. An example would be the opening scenes which shows how the president of the United States is apparently prepared to destroy a whole village of arabs (?) with one of their newly developed “smart bombs” because he thinks there is a 51% chance that one of the men might be a feared terrorist (no names are mentioned, but of course he has a beard! / )

Themes of family tensions and relationships, as caring friends/people, are naturally brought into the film with little focus on romance.

The main theme of the film is that of technology which could raise questions in one’s mind about the true role of machines in our contemporary networked electronic society. Machines have been somewhat of an obsession/point of intrigue since their invention. In third grade English textbooks we were asked what we thought machines would be able to do in the future. Would they start replacing humans? To some, mostly the rich, this would sound absurd. Interestingly though, it is important to remeber that the less educated battle machines for employment. Why would you need someone to wash your washing or sweep your house, when a machine can do it? The social theorist Castells calls this “generic labour”, as opposed to “individual/superior labour” (which has to be done by an educated human). There are definately a few things one can think about further… Do machines fit in the middle of the digital divide? Is our advancement in technology really us just shooting ourselves in the foot with a new Tower of Babel, as many films seem to suggest?

Evil Content?
Lots of action (I wouldn’t really class it as violence), one scene of blood, a few people dying, lots of shooting and so on, lots of chase scenes, not much swearing, one kiss.

Ratings
Rotten Tomatoes decided it was worth only 27%. However, it IS rated 10th in terms of earings with $2.5M (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/) . I’d give it about… 65%.

Este blog é melhor visualizado no Mozilla Firefox e Google Crome. No Internet Explorer apresenta vários erros.

Resenha do filme Paranóia (Disturbia) - suspense – D.J. Caruso

Por: Natália Alves

Kale Brecht (Shia Labeouf) sofre um acidente de carro que ocasiona a morte de seu pai, que estava no banco do carona. Pelo fato de estar dirigindo o carro, Kale se sente culpado pela morte do pai e torna-se um jovem problemático.

Após dar um soco no rosto de seu professor de espanhol, Kale é sentenciado a três meses de prisão domiciliar. Sua prisão é controlada através de um dispositivo colocado em seu tornozelo que transmite informações, sobre a distância que ele percorre, a um aparelho que fica na cozinha da casa. Se ele sair do perímetro permitido uma luz vermelha aparece no dispositivo e a polícia é alertada.

Já que Kale só podia chegar até o jardim de sua casa e sua mãe tirou seu acesso ao vídeo-game e ao Itunes live, ele começou a se divertir vigiando os vizinhos do seu quarteirão. É desta forma que ele conhece a nova e atraente vizinha e começa a memorizar o cotidiano de cada família.

O filme começa a ficar interessante quando Kale desconfia que seu pacato vizinho seja um serial killer. Pedindo ajuda a seu amigo de colégio e a sua nova vizinha, ele tenta desvendar este mistério e provar que ele não está paranóico.

No início da trama o espectador dará boas risadas com as atrapalhadas de Kale e seu amigo e pode esperar se surpreender com o final. Apesar de o personagem principal ser interpretado por um jovem, o filme não é mais um besteirol para adolescentes e a atuação de Labeouf é ótima.

La adaptación de Thor es uno de los buques insignia de Marvel, que ve la película del Vengador como una gran oportunidad de ganarse de nuevo la confianza de los espectadores. Sin embargo, aún falta mucho tiempo para que podamos ver la cinta en nuestros cines, hecho que aumenta si cabe las especulaciones alrededor de la producción. Estos días D.J. Caruso y Kenneth Branagh han tenido a bien arrojar un poco de luz sobre el asunto. Caruso, uno de los candidatos a dirigir el filme -no descarta hacerlo con alguna de sus secuelas- destaca el fuerte conflicto familiar que mostraba el guión, lo que coloca -aún más si cabe- a Loki como obvio villano. Esta relación afecta profundamente a los personajes y los sucesos que acontecerán en Asgard, dominio de ambos hermanos. Por su parte, Branagh incide en la visión épica de la historia, que no sólo habla de dioses y hombres, sino también de ciencia ficción y aspectos fantástico de la literatura nórdica. Unos  factores que sin duda influyeron en su decisión.

Un peu fatigué, j’ai décidé de regarder Eagle Eye, histoire d’être sûr de ne pas risque l’embolie cérébrale devant la tv.

Il y a pratiquement 10 ans, Will Smith et Gene Hackman faisaient équipe dans Ennemi d’État. Surveillance à gogo des téléphones, par satellite, et j’en passe. Ça parlait de liberté et de surveillance de l’État. Pratiquement 10 ans plus tard, les thématiques sont obsolètes, 9/11 ayant supprimé beaucoup des droits, les mêmes ou presque que John Voight comptait se débarrasser dans le film. À cela, on ajoute une évolution énorme de l’électronique dans notre quotidien, et on pousse le vice paranoïaque jusqu’à Eagle Eye.

Ce qui paraissait être impossible en 1999 est devenu réalité en 2008, il fallait donc rajeunir le sujet et c’est là que ce film intervient. On peut dès lors supposer qu’une autre mise à jour sera nécessaire d’ici la prochaine décennie.

Le film débute par Jerry, dont le frère jumeau est mort et qui va se faire poursuivre par le FBI, car il est accusé de terrorisme. Rachel, mère célibataire aura la vie de son fils entre ses mains. Eux deux sont manipulés par une mystérieuse femme qui semble omnipotente et qui les utilise comme pions dans son jeu.

Shia Labeouf est le nouveau Will Smith et partage la vedette avec Michelle Monaghan qui n’est pas mauvaise. Je pense qu’elle ne sera jamais aussi bonne que dans Kiss Kiss Bang Bang dans lequel elle était emportée par le sillon de folie de Robert Downey Jr. et de Val Kilmer. En tout cas, elle est meilleure que dans Gone Baby Gone où elle était proche de la transparence. Bref, Shia, il est égal à lui-même et ses détracteurs ne pourront que se plaindre. Moi, je l’aime bien Shia, donc je m’en fous un peu. Mon regret niveau casting, c’est que Rosario Dawson est vraiment trop effacée, et que Billy Bob Thornton ne s’en sort mieux que dans la dernière demi-heure. Et je ne vous parle pas de Michael Chiklis !

D.J. Caruso à la réal a bien appris les classiques du genre, mais ça ne fait pas de lui un maitre. Il peine à bien cadrer ses scènes d’actions, tout particulièrement les courses poursuites en voiture assez intenses qui souffrent de plans trop rapprochés et de mauvais angles.

Ce n’est pas super handicapant, il ne faut juste pas trop élever ses exigences. Avec des scènes d’actions mieux maitrisées, le film aurait certainement été plus marquant.

Le scénario est assez banal, donc, je ne vais pas revenir sur la thématique et tout. Il a ses incohérences, mais bon, on sait ce que l’on va voir. Mon plus gros regret c’est qu’il y a 2 minutes de trop à la fin. Ça ruine un peu tout, enfin, j’exagère, mais le film aurait eu plus de force sans cet épilogue un peu moisi.

Au final, c’est un bon divertissement, parfait pour passer 2hrs sans prise de tête. Il n’apporte pas beaucoup de matière pour réfléchir sur ses thématiques, c’est un peu dommage, mais d’un autre côté, ça évite que l’on se trompe sur les ambitions du réalisateur.

C

Eagle Eye

Reżyser słabego Złodzieja Życia (tego z Angeliną Jolie) D.J. Caruso tym razem zaskoczył mnie pozytywnie. Najnowsza produkcja z udziałem mega-popularnego Shia LaBeoufa na podstawie pomysłu Stevena Spielberga to przyzwoity thriller, który do ostatnich minut trzyma w napięciu i co najważniejsze – pomimo masy bzdur jest pozbawiony wielu “wspomagaczy”, które w kinie amerykańskim rażą jak powiewanie flagi w każdej części Spider-Mana (chociaż o ironio, w Eagle Eye też ją nieraz zobaczymy to jednak jest to inna bajka).

Nie dziwię się, że polski dystrybutor zrezygnował z tłumaczenia tytułu, choć to żaden skomplikowany idiom. “Sokole oko” idealnie oddaje sens tego, co w tym filmie bije na głowę maszynerię z Mrocznego Rycerza. Fabuła filmu opiera się bowiem na zagrożeniu, jakie niesie współczesna technologia. Oryginalny pomysł to to nie jest, bowiem coś podobnego zaaplikował nam już Tony Scott we Wrogu Publicznym. Tam Will Smith był cały czas pod czujnym okiem szpiegujących go komputerów. W Eagle Eye mamy parę bohaterów, którzy podobnie jak w filmach Hitchcocka nie wiedzą, w co zostali wplątani. Intryga jest prosta – twórcy odpowiedzieli nam na nurtujące pytanie już połowie filmu, ale pomimo to – akcja trzyma w napięciu do końca.

Zapytacie co w tym filmie takiego niezwykłego? Otóż, porównując go do masy sensacyjniaków film D. J. Caruso pozbawiony jest masy niepotrzebnych ujęć, patetycznych spowolnionych scen, tępych dialogów i moralizatorstwa. Nie ujrzycie tu ani jednego pocałunku ani erotyzmu, bowiem w tej historii na takie rzeczy po prostu nie ma czasu. Bohaterowie cały czas mają przysłowiowy nóż na gardle a reżyser zadbał oto, by widz, pomimo masy bzdur, jakie się mu wciska nie nudził się i przy okazji nie zapomniał, o co w filmie chodzi.

Inną bajką są efekty specjalne – to nie ten rodzaj filmu, gdzie ostateczne destrukcja została przewidziana na ostatnie metry taśmy – o nie, zostaliśmy uraczeni kilkoma świetnymi sekwencjami pościgów okraszonych konkretnymi stłuczkami, wybuchami i grom go wie, czym jeszcze. Sekwencja ze samosterowalnym samolotem w tunelu pomimo nieprawdopodobieństwa robi wrażenie!

Oddzielny akapit należy się Billy’emu Bobowi Thorntonowi. Facet zagrał Agenta Thomasa Morgana głównie dialogami – trzeba powiedzieć, że to dobry akcent komediowy – jego teksty to chyba te najlepsze w całym filmie. Shia LaBeouf jak to on wypadł przyzwoicie, chociaż kiedy panikuje to jak nic przypomina Sama z Transformersów. Mimo wszystko cieszy mnie, że chłopak potrafi grać. Jeśli chodzi o Michelle Monaghan – nie wiem, czemu niezbyt dobrze ją kojarzę, przeglądając jej filmografię dobrze pamiętam tylko Constatine’a. Z twarzy pasuje do roli cierpiętniczki i taką w filmie gra. Grunt, że dobrze jej to wychodzi.

Podsumowując; Eagle Eye to dobry thriller ze świetnym tempem, w sposób mocno fantastyczny  (czyt. mega bzura) ujmujący problem postępu informatycznego. Wręcz idealny twór do zażartej walki między krytyką a widzami. Znawcy będą się czepiać możliwości superkomputera ARIA, ale właśnie dobrym atutem filmu jest to, że ten fakt jakoś nam nie przeszkadza. Reżyser w jakiś sposób sprawił, że historia ma ciekawe zacięcie. Wystarczy porównać do wyczynów Michaela Baya, który spłycił by film do granic możliwości. Caruso pomimo masy efektów dał swobodne miejsce intrydze i na nią postawił do samego końca.

Polecam film tym, którzy lubię dobrą akcję, trzymającą w napięciu zwariowaną intrygę podaną w przyzwoity sposób i bez niepotrzebnych dodatków. Idealny film na wieczorny wypad do kina. No i zdjęcia Dariusza Wolskiego . Amen!

Eagle Eye
FilmWeb | IMdB | Rotten Tomatoes

Starring: Val Kilmer, Vincent D’Onofrio, Adam Goldberg, Luis Guzmán, Anthony LaPaglia, Peter Sarsgaard
Director: D.J. Caruso
Genre: Thriller
Cert: 18
Released: 2002

I’ve never heard of director, D.J. Caruso. I’m often weary of people who use initials as their name. You don’t catch me calling myself G.D.. Actually, it sounds pretty cool. From now on, or certainly for the duration of this review, you can call me G.D.

D.J. is no beginner but “The Salton Sea” could probably be his most ambitious and well known project. The panned “Taking Lives” in 2004 was his other big-screen effort but his TV movies “Black Cat Run” (Jake Busey, Patrick Muldoon) and “Mind Prey” (Luis Guzmán) were reasonably well received. The reason I build up all this is because Caruso has quite simply directed one of the stand-out movies of the last few years. You know me (good old G.D.), I’m moderately impressed by plenty but much impressed by little.

The movie opens up with a trumpet-playing character (Kilmer – “The Ghost and the Darkness”, “The Doors”, “Batman Forever”) about to be engulfed by fire in a burning building, telling us that he’s a bit of a bad guy but urging us to listen to his story first before we judge him. He is Danny Thomas, a drifter who spends his days and nights doing speed with the likes of Kujo (Goldberg – “A Beautiful Mind”, “Saving Private Ryan”, Eddie in TVs “Friends”) and his best friend, Jimmy the Finn (Sarsgaard – “K-19″, “Boys Don’t Cry”, “Garden State”). To beat a felony rap, he snitches dealers out to police officers, Garcetti (LaPaglia – “Lantana”, “So I Married an Axe Murderer”) and Morgan (Hutchinson – “The Green Mile”, “I Am Sam”, “Batman & Robin”, “Con Air”). They treat him like crap and refuse to protect him when it turns out that a dealer he put away has put a contract out on him.

But behind the tattoos and the drug abuse, Danny seems a nice lad. He shows concern for his new neighbour, Collette (Deborah Kara Unger – “White Noise”, “The Hurricane”, “The Game”), who is being beaten by her abusive boyfriend (the ever brilliant Luis Guzmán – “Magnolia”, “Traffic”, “Boogie Nights”, “Punch-Drunk Love”). He also shows reluctant regret when he sees the distraught wife of a dealer he has shopped (Glenn Plummer – “Speed”, “The Day After Tomorrow”), even though she was abused by him. But Danny’s background is not one of crime and cruelty. He is reflective and mourns the loss of the love of his life, haunted by the thought that he could have done something to save her.

With Garcetti and Morgan no longer protecting him, Danny decides that he has to make some money and ‘go away’. He tries to set up a deal as a middle-man to buy from ruthless drug-baron Pooh-Bear (D’Onofrio – “Ed Wood”, “The Player”, “JFK”, “Full Metal Jacket”, “Malcolm X”) but his buyer (B.D. Wong – “Executive Decision”, “The Substitute 2″, “Jurassic Park”) is moving the goalposts and irritating Pooh-Bear. His life is seemingly falling apart but Danny is determined to get through it and try to find out who he is exactly. He warns you at the start – nothing is as it seems.

There are so many elements to “The Salton Sea” that elevate it right up there in to my all time top ten. I rented this originally because my top man, Anthony LaPaglia, was in it. And while he plays his police officer role with his usual, entertaining intensity (although it’s quite a shock to find that he doesn’t like dolphins), the quirky characters that pop up throughout are one of the main drivers.

The movie is set apart during moments like when dealer, Bobby, whacked out of his head on meths, starts aiming a spear gun at Danny and Jimmy asking them if they brought the ‘plastic men’ and then introducing himself as ‘the ocean’. Surreal characters like Pooh-Bear who has no nose, hasn’t slept in a year and recreates the Kennedy assassination using pigeons in a remote-control car or Asian cowboy, Bubba, who likes to call Danny ‘Hoss’, bring a unique slant to the film.

There are numerous laugh-out-loud moments like when Danny comes-to and wonders to himself if he has died. The first thing he spots is linoleum – “This must be hell”. When foul-mouthed Quincy (Guzmán), who is in the middle of aggressively banging down Collette’s door, asks him what he’s looking at, Danny casually replies “I was just admiring your boots. Did you purchase them locally?”.

And there are twists and turns along the way. Not all of them are completely logical or likely, but as plot devices they work perfectly and there is not that much suspension of belief required.

As I say the characters are terrific, backed by a sharp script (Tony Gayton – “Murder by Numbers”) and some spot-on direction from Caruso. Stylish close-ups, slow-motion and occasionally abstract scenes make this seem like it came straight out of Tarantino’s hot period in the early-mid nineties.

Thankfully no mistakes were made in casting, and while the cast is quite well known there are no names here for the sake of it. Kilmer is not someone I’ve ever warmed to on the screen but he’s outstanding as Danny whether he is being humorous or overwrought. D’Onofrio is just about the MVP, putting on about 50lbs for his role as mega-psycho dealer, Pooh-Bear. His appearance, the “nose” back story and his hilarious and ill-fitting accent make him one of cinema’s weirdest characters in a long time. Plummer is brilliant in his small role as Bobby, Guzmán is class as usual and Unger, who I only recalled from 1992s “Whispers in the Dark”, does a more than solid job.

“The Salton Sea” is a top-notch movie which inexplicably seemed to disappear off the radar, only having a limited release and picking up just one Prism award for best actor (Kilmer). G.D. don’t fawn over too many films but this is one that gets just about everything right.