The one thing "Southland Tales" (2008) has going for it is its ambition.
"Southland Tales" is a very big, very long, complex and star-studded vanity project. Writer/ Director Richard Kelly, hot off the success of the great "Donnie Darko," is out to spend all the capital his prior success has afforded him. Unfortunately, he may have broke the bank in the process.
"Southland" is a mess. It fails on almost every level.
First, the story adds up to a big nothing. This is a surprising failure, considering all the in-your-face political satire and metaphysical mumbo-jumbo along the way. The plot revolves around an action movie star with amnesia, played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, as he tries to figure out what happened to him before he woke up in the middle of the desert. Along the way, he meets assorted nut cases, all trying to undermine the government with which The Rock has political ties.
Kelly is playing with some meaningful themes here. They just never add up in any meaningful way. The film poses interesting questions-- like what might happen if you met your time travel self-- and then moves on to other concerns, having provided no answers.
SPOILER ALERT!
Finally, after piling on question after question, virtually everyone is killed off at once, in one big explosion. What kind of ending is that? Frustrating? Lazy? Or the only alternative to get out of the corner Kelly painted himself into?
END SPOILER ALERT!
Second, the characters are simply not interesting, or believable. There is no one to empathize with; only weirdos to gawk at. They're weird for the sake of weirdness, and nothing else. To make matters worse, the supporting cast is constantly upstaging the primary cast, and the main characters are less likable as a result. (I mean, probably half the people who watch this dreck are doing so because they heard that Justin Timberlake does a musical number... But he's on screen for a whole ten minutes. I read Janeane Garofalo was in it too, only to discover that after extensive re-editing, her part was removed from the picture entirely. You can however glimpse her in ONE shot, right at the end of the movie, celebrating with Timberlake at a party.)
Third, "Southland Tales" is too long to sustain interest. Out of 145 minutes, there are about five minutes that will play great on You-Tube, and the rest is forgettable. (If you've seen the picture, you can probably even guess which five minutes.)
But the most disappointing part about seeing "Southland" is knowing how hard the filmmakers tried to make something good, and witnessing how greatly they failed. The wild ambition, imagination, and talent involved is evident in every frame. Too bad it's such a pain to watch.
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