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"Southland Tales" is a wildly ambitious movie, perhaps too ambitious. There are too many characters to deal with here, the story threatens to be impossible to explain, and it runs 2 and a half hours long which makes it a little longer than it needs to be. Still, I really wanted to like this movie. If nothing else, it shows that Richard Kelly is a director who does not play by the rule book, and is more interested in making movies that you have never really seen before. His movies have an atmosphere to them that is intoxicating in some way, and you can't quite shake it after you've left the theater. So, what exactly is "Southland Tales" about? Let me take a shot at explaining. The movie starts with a family get together in Texas when a nuclear bomb is detonated, and it instantly starts World War 3. The United States basically becomes a fascist country, and the freedoms that we have enjoyed as Americans end up going away. The presidential election is now decided with the electoral college through one state and one state only - California. The internet is now under government jurisdiction, and Venice Beach is now seen as a "Neo-Marxist" area which shows that not everything changes in the future. The main character here is Boxer Santaros, and he is played here by Dwayne Johnson (finally dropping his surname of "The Rock"). Boxer is an American hero to many who ends up developing amnesia, and ends up moving in with a porn star (Sarah Michelle Gellar) with whom he writes a screenplay. Meanwhile, he is being searched for by his mother-in-law Nana Mae Frost (Miranda Richardson). During that time, he takes a ride along with who he thinks is Ronald Taverner (Sean William Scott, working again with Johnson for the first time since "The Rundown"), but who is actually his twin brother. Or is he really his twin brother? Then there is the alternative energy power developed by Baron Von Westphalen (Wallace Shawn) which is supposed to make up for the depletion of oil resources and our access to them... You following all this? Even Richard Kelly had to admit that he was being overly ambitious with this project, and there is way too much going on here. At the same time, the ideas that Richard brought to this project are very intriguing and rather original. Even if this movie is a mess, at least Richard is trying to do something new here and not some formulaic crap. Whatever you end up thinking of this movie, you want to admire him for that. Kelly has developed his own style, and it makes me eagerly await the next project he does. The movie also kind of acts as the director's interpretation of the Book of Revelations, as it is endlessly quoted here by Private Pilot Abilene, and he is played by Justin Timberlake with a big scar on his face. While watching this movie, you can feel that the end is coming nearer and nearer for these characters as the movie slowly makes its way to its inevitable conclusion. The more important thing here is how these characters plan to face their destiny. Will they embrace it, run away from it, or will they clearly be in denial about it? Keep in mind, this is largely a comic view of the apocalypse even with its serious overtones. Dwayne Johnson may seem like an odd choice for this role, and many of his fans may come out frustrated because he does not kick ass the way he usually does in his movies. You get the impression that he is overacting here, but then again, this is not meant to be taking in an entirely realistic world. Sarah Michelle Gellar also seems to be a rather odd casting choice for this movie, but she does have her moments as porn star Krysta Now. She also has one of the funniest moments in the movie where she sings a pop song she wrote called, "Teenage Horniness Is Not A Crime." understand that there are some "Southland Tales" graphic novels available that act as a prequel to this movie, and are basically considered required reading if you really want to know what is going on in this movie. I have not read them myself, as I am still desperately finding the time to finish up the last Harry Potter book. Odds are, you should probably take the time to read them if you are to get a clearer idea of what all these different subplots mean. "Southland Tales" will probably not reach the same size audience that has completely embraced "Donnie Darko," but it will be interesting to see what the fans of that movie think about this one. It will also be interesting to see how this movie is viewed in a few years from now. This, in the end, is not a movie that I can give a positive recommendation to, and that's even though part of me wants to. In the end, this is an overstuffed movie with too many ideas that never quite form a cohesive whole. But you still have to admire Richard Kelly for going against the grain instead of doing some formulaic junk. You just hope that the next movie he does will not have him be too ambitious as he is here. email this review to a friend
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