17 Jan Black Cadillac (2003)

Fins beyond the Law

There are some things that naturally are cinematic. Among these are car chases, smoke and snow. Similarly on the story side, people cast together in a small space with an outside threat and unrevealed past relationships.

It terms of flow, the most reliable device is a character who is not what he seems.

On these safe poles is strung the structure of this movie. Overall, it isn’t any worse than other fare that doesn’t matter. Some of the photography — especially of the menacing Caddy — is good.

But someone smart enough to use these devices should also have know the dangers. They are so familiar that in order to be effective they have to be exaggerated beyond themselves.

To have exaggerated chases these days requires CGI and some recourse to the supernatural. To have the historical revelation matter it has to be extreme, completely strange. When the twist comes and you learn which things are not as you suspected, these days that has to be at least two major twists. Big ones that involve the skin of the thing.

You’ll find the same pattern in romance where too much thrill eats the centre and two little prevents it from slaking onto the blade.

Maybe it is impossible to be delicate and surgically sharp these days, which is why genre films are already bankrupt, reduced to self parody.

Posted in 2006

Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

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