Falling Down

SCRIBE'S MOMMY WHY DOES THE VIGILANTE LOOK LIKE A MORMON REVIEW:

I saw Falling Down when it was first released into theaters, contrary to what regular reader and slanderer Bluez might think. I went with a female friend and we enjoyed ourselves.

In the pre-Tarrantino daze, films like this were a rarity. It looked gritty, it felt gritty, and you truly felt unclean after it was over. Michael Douglas' turn as the fed up Bill Foster was at turns sympathetic and creepy. Robert Duvall, at the height of his greatness, portrays retiring cop Martin Prendergast with a tenderness that most actors would fear revealing. The action scenes are brief but believable and memorable and the acting is top notch. Schumacher's directing is good as well.

So why isn't this a great movie? Where does it fail the audience?

It starts off perfectly. Angry yuppie stuck in a traffic jam finally can't take the rat race anymore and gets out of his car in the middle of traffic. From there he embarks on an odyssey involving gangsters, vicious shop owners and arrogant rich men with too much free time. As Foster becomes more and more righteously violent, the audience feels a swelling of empathy with this guy. He is the silent and suffering everyman, finally taking vengeance against a deadening system. Meanwhile, we have the nice guy cop that really wants to solve Foster's crimes while enduring horrific treatment from his co-workers because he doesn't say "fuck."

The first 3/4 of Falling Down is riveting urban drama as its best. Then the third act rears its ugly head. Suddenly we find out Foster isn't just a guy that's been pushed to the edge. He's a lunatic. He couldn't just be an agent of righteous indignation. That might actually make people wake up and see the world for what it is. So instead Act III turns him into a drooling delusional schizophrenic who just might have abused his family. Thus when the predictable ending arrives, the so-called showdown scene becomes a neo-conservative excuse to admonish anyone who questions his environment.

Because of this, Falling Down goes from near classic to good but intensely flawed movie.

*** out of *****

GREEN'S I'M HAVING A BAD DAY REVIEW:

Bill Foster (Michael Douglas) is having a bad day, and everyone who crosses his path is going to have a bad day too, whether they want to or not. Detective Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall) is a cop trying to get through his last day on the force and retire to Arizona and his neurotic wife. When Foster snaps and goes on a rampage, it's up to Prendergast and his partner Detective Sandra Torres (Rachel Ticotin) to determine where he will strike next and stop him.

Some critics have called this a crude vigilante picture which glorifies random extreme violence. I disagree. This, to me, was a very interesting film, a character study on the human psyche and at what circumstances does one snap and go too far with words and actions. Most of us, I think, can sympathize with Foster at times when it seems like no matter what we do, the worst case scenario unfolds, time after time after time.

Michael Douglas is a fine actor whose performance is intense and extremely convincing. This film may not be as good with another actor in the lead role. I think Robert Duvall is a good actor overall but he really didn't impress me here. Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin and the rest of the supporting cast were fine.

I thought the premise of the movie had promise. The script was decent but could have been better with a little back story on some of the main characters. For example: why was there a restraining order legally preventing Foster from seeing his ex-wife and son? What happened that turned good-guy Prendergast into a cop with a desk job?

Joel Schumacher does an adequate job directing.

*** out of *****