Review: ‘Noise’ on DVD

Travis:

Horns, noisy garbage trucks, sirens, and worst of all… car alarms. These are the evil forces that David Owen vows to vanquish in ‘Noise’, a social comedy written and directed by Henry Bean (‘The Believer’). Tim Robbins plays David Owen, a successful and proud resident of New York. David loves New York, but he can’t stand all the noise. David becomes obsessed with punishing those who violate his code of quiet. As his courage and gumption grows into more frequent and daring acts of anti-noise, he creates his vigilante anti-hero alter-ego The Rectifier. He goes about his beloved New York “rectifying” the noise pollution created by inconsiderate and lazy citizens.

The Rectifier’s arch-nemesis is Mayor Schneer (William Hurt), an ego-maniacal man who who cares only about his own political survival. William Baldwin plays Mayor Schneer’s ass-kissing “yes” man. Schneer absolutely hates The Rectifier and vowes to have him found, arrested and put away forever. Ultimately, David must decide whether to continue his reign as The Rectifier or salvage his marriage to Helen (Bridget Moynahan) and become a better father to his daughter (Gabrielle Brennan).

We can all relate to what David is going through. We may not be as obsessed or willing to go to his extremes, but who hasn’t considered vandalizing the car parked on the side of the street with the alarm blaring for 3 hours because the owner either doesn’t know or doesn’t care? That’s the premise of ‘Noise’… David takes action when no one else will, even though it’s what everyone wants to do. We see this in the movie because the citizens of New York stand behind him and rally support for him. In fact, the only people opposed to The Rectifier are the mayor and the “victims” of The Rectifier’s wrath.

It’s easy for us to get behind David and encourage his acts of vengeance, but the story takes a slightly deeper, darker stab at where the line between activist and extremist is drawn. David has the right ideas, but he allows them to control him and nearly costs him his family and his freedom. His wife urges him to just let it go, ignore it or avoid it… but, for David, it’s a matter of principle that must be “dealt” with.

During David’s fight against Mayor Schneer, he develops a friendship with a young Russian immigrant named Ekaterina Filippovna (Margarita Levieva) who begins as an indirect victim of The Rectifier, but becomes his friend and accomplice. She serves as a moral guide, a sort of Master Yoda you could say, straightening his path and helping him to create a more effective and less violent version of The Rectifier.

‘Noise’ offers a fun and humorous story that deals with an issue we all are affected by on a daily basis. This is an exaggerated interpretation of the secret desires we all have to be vigilante heroes against the “small stuff” that annoys the Hell out of all of us. ‘Noise’ is also a testament to how, as a society, we love to complain and talk big about how things are so screwed up or just “not right” but how none of us actually act upon those beliefs. The Rectifier is the manifestation of these feelings, but also warns of what acting upon these urges can become if we allow them to be fueled by our emotions. It’s an interesting film to view, especially while heading into a major election.

Overall: 3.5 Stars