DVD Recommendation: Falling Down. 

Directed by: Joel Schumacher 

Written by: Ebbe Roe Smith 

Starring: Micahel Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey. 

Distributed by: Warner Bros. 

There was just something about films produced during the 90’s. Call it nostalgia since I’m pretty much a 90’s baby through and through, but they really did encourage you to question everything. From Fight Club to The Matrix, the whole decade seemed summed up in some pretty introspective films.  

Falling Down is a prime example of this. The premise of this classic holds true today as it did in ’93 when it was released.  

William Foster (Douglas) has lost his job at the defence agency he worked for. He’s divorced, his wife has a restraining order against him and he lives with his mammy and pretends to go to a job he was recently sacked from.

It’s during one of his pseudo-trips from his job that he gets stuck in a traffic jam. It’s a heatwave and his air-conditioner breaks down. Surrounded by the sweating horde of people around him he sensibly elects to just up and leave his car to walk the rest of the way home. 

He ends up bumping coming across the less desirable elements of society as he’s picked the worst route to walk home. His first foray sees him haggle with a Korean shop owner over his high-prices (and by haggle I mean he breaks shit with a baseball bat). 

He then sits in a park and two gang members accost him, again bringing down a Foster-style arse-kicking on them. After that he shops for clothes and bumps into a neo-nazi, of all the luck! 

The whole film goes on like this, with Robert Duvall’s, “Two days from retirement” detective character trying his darndest to catch him. Through Foster’s chaotic scenic route, the film makes a nice commentary about contempory life and touches on commercialism, racism and the ever-elusive American Dream. 

This is a film I think Douglas deserves more credit for. He plays what is essentially a crazy bastard and turns him into a sympathetic figure. Trust me, if at the end you’re not secretly rooting for him you need to sort out your priorities. 

A superb film and major kudos to cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak for his use of the heatwave metaphor as a symbol of America reaching boiling point. It also works well as an interesting plot device to move the story along.I thoroughly recommend everyone to see this film at least once.

****

Immortals:Review

Immortals is loosely based on the Greek myths of Theseus and the Titanomachy.
Directed by Tarsem Singh the film tells the story of Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), King of Crete, who declares war on the gods.

The only thing standing in his way is Superman-to-be Henry Cavill, who plays Theseus, a bastard-born peasant who kicks monumental ass with a spear.

After his mother is killed personally by Hyperion, Thesus swears revenge and goes in search of the Epirus bow himself.The gods have him pegged to be their saviour, and predictably it doesn't go easy on the way to being the hero.

On the way he meets up with sultry Oracle Priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto of Slumdog fame) and master-thief Stavros (Stephen Dorff).

The rest of the cast is nothing to sneeze at either, with John Hurt giving the film a bit of heart amid a soul-less slash-and-hack "inspirational" flick devoid of any inspiration itself.

For those familiar with the testosterone-soaked 300, there’s nothing really new here. While the fight scenes are visual goodness mixed with killer action, the drama is a little hackneyed and the acting never goes above average.

The storyline itself plays itself out routinely, with nothing unexpected to keep you on your toes (unless you count Stephen Dorff being in it).

A little better than Clash of the Titans, it is enjoyable but overall easily forgettable.

***