Review: ‘Southland Tales’ on DVD

Travis:

Southland Tales (2006) … where do I start? I suppose I’ll begin with stating the obvious for anyone who’s actually seen this movie. It was written and directed by Richard Kelly, who is best known for writing and directing the outstanding dark thriller Donnie Darko (2001). My point is, this movie got a very limited release and anyone who did see it most likely was banking on a grand follow-up to his freshman fan favorite. In general, Southland Tales is a semi-satisfactory film … but, not an overly promising sophomore project for this young promising film-maker.

Forgive me if this attempt at outlining the plot gets confusing: Southland Tales takes place in southern California in what appears to be the future, but actually takes place in 2008. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Walking Tall) plays Boxer Santaros, a movie-star married to a senator’s daughter that ends up missing. When he returns, he finds himself experiencing a bad case of amnesia. Boxer soon finds himself involved with Krysta Now, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge), an ex-porn star who is trying to make a career crossover into reality TV, fashion design and energy drinks. In the meantime, Seann William Scott (Mr. Woodcock) plays Roland and Ronald Taverner, a set of identical twins, whose lives hold a secret that is slowly entangled with the lives of Boxer, Krysta and everyone else as events unfold and “the world ends with a bang.” The movie features a large ensemble cast that also includes Wallace Shawn, Mandy Moore, John Larroquette, Bai Ling, Justin Timberlake, Miranda Richardson (The Hours), Jon Lovitz, Cheri Oteri (SNL) and Nora Dunn (SNL).

Southland Tales is, on the surface, a sci-fi film of sorts … actually turns out to be a satirical social commentary on the ways of our country as we live it today. After the first few minutes, I feared the film would be politically off-balance, favoring one side of our broken system and tearing the other apart. However, I am pleased to say this film unabashedly makes both parties of our political system look equally stupid. The structure of the story is broken up and tends to bobble back and forth in time and place, but that doesn’t bother me. What I found a bit distracting at times was the often naggingly slow pace at which the film moves. There are many scenes that could have been shortened and/or re-cut to make them more effective and not lose any momentum.

The movie has cool, creative special effects and nifty techno-artsy sets and production design. This is one reason the film managed to maintain my attention. This also includes some strategically placed sight gags, amongst which is a short promotional video for the new Hummer-type vehicle being made. In the promo, it features one vehicle “porking” another, slow-and-sexy-like. The soundtrack is one rather satisfying reason the film is somewhat enjoyable, but it tends to feel like a feature-length music video at times. These moments add flair to the film, but unfortunately they can’t save what is essentially a pretentious, over-the-top belly-flop.

(2.5 out of 5)

Zac:

Richard Kelly’s long delayed and highly anticipated follow up to super cult hit Donnie Darko is an entertaining film that upon first viewing is a bit all over the place, but seems to most likely benefit from repeat viewings.
The film stars a trio of actors, Dwayne “don’t call me Rock” Johnson, Seann William Scott, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, and are supported by an endless supply of recognizable faces. The story picks up on Chapter IV of this story and is the continuation of a series of prequel graphic novels that tell the origins of the story the movie throws us right in the middle of. The first ten minutes or so of the movie catch us up on the first three chapters, but to fully enjoy and better understand what is going on in this film I highly suggest picking up the prequel saga.
For those of you not interested in reading a little here is what you need to know. Ever since a nuclear attack in Texas the government has produced a national identification system that can track anyone around the United States causing much anger in the liberal left of the population. Also do to the war in Iraq the U.S. has begun introducing a new type of perpetual motion energy system into use called Fluid Karma. This same Fluid Karma has been used on soldiers in test studies, diagnosing the effects it could have in military combat situations. All of this culminates in a Liberal plot to make sure the conservatives don’t win the state of California in the 08′ election and getting them the Presidency. To make this plot work the Liberal group, the Neo-Marxists, must enlist an amnesiac famous movie star Boxer Santaros (Johnson), kidnap a cop like figure of the day and convince his twin brother to frame him for being a racist (Scott) and this is all only made possible by the help of entrepreneur porn star Krista Now (Gellar). If your still sold on this film after this brief but crazy plot catch up, then congrats because the outcome of all this is an entertaining film that constantly keeps you intrigued and guessing as you try and figure out what the hell is going on.
Now, I will say this, this movie isn’t for someone looking for neat and tidy endings with all the loose ends tied up. Almost none are tied up as a matter of fact, but there is plenty of info left for you to ponder and assess into what it all means. The film is an insane amalgamation of genre and style ranging from comedy, thriller, action, and sci-fi with a few other probably peppered in through out.
The actors all do pretty good jobs here even if most of their roles are kind of thin or one dimensional. It’s nice to see Scott do something other than his shtick and I feel like he is a fairly capable actor. Gellar’s character is great and she sells the part wonderfully, but the film version feels a little lackluster then to what Kelly was getting out of the character in the Prequel Saga novels. Johnson is an odd duck here that is fun to watch as he evolves into this confident bad ass and he plays the part well. The supporting cast also does a great job in bit parts and against type cameos that are almost blink and you miss on occasion.
Southland Tales is a crazy and all over the place film that never fails to intrigue and keep you thinking. The plot turns are solid and the pacing is pretty good as well and like I said before, the film is almost constantly entertaining. Having read the prequel novel twice, I wish Kelly would have just filmed that as well and made an epic piece of cinema that I think would have ultimately worked better as a whole film rather then his experimental prequel graphic novel that I think is almost essential to the full enjoyment of the film. In the end, I think this film will age well like his previous effort, but don’t expect this to touch the excellence of Darko or build as such a large following as that one either.

(4 out of 5)

[rating: 3.25/5]

DVD Features:

• USIdent TV: Surveilling the Southland featurette
• This is the Way the World Ends animated short
• Previews