BEFORE: When they weren't performing, the Blues Brothers were usually running from the police. So that's my theme for the week - people on the lam. And today's Birthday SHOUT-out #5 goes to Kevin Costner, born on 1/18/55.
THE PLOT: A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.
AFTER: Much like a criminal on the run, this film seemed mostly directionless. Once the conflict was established between the escaped convict played by Kevin Costner (last seen in "The Postman") and the Texas Ranger played by Clint Eastwood (last seen in "The Eiger Sanction", the outcome seemed pretty inevitable to me, and anything extra at that point seems like filler. Time to call shenanigans, or at least a "delay of game" penalty.
There are strange bonding experiences between the ex-con and the boy he takes as a hostage. Since the boy had no father figure in his life (a sort of recurring theme in the film), he was drawn to the convict in the ultimate expression of Stockholm syndrome. Plus he was a Jehovah's Witness, so the whole dangerous road trip allowed him to experience things that weren't usually available to him.
I've got a bunch of nitpick points, the most prominent of which is - if Costner's character was supposedly so smart, how come he let the kid continue to wear a very recognizable Halloween costume? For that matter, if he was so scary smart, how come he kept breaking the law? Or failed to realize how many days it would take to drive to Alaska? Or why did he seem to take his time getting out of the state? I could go on and on...
The film does manage to capture some of the racial and gender-based inequalities of 1963 - but that hardly seems commendable. Do we need to be reminded of a time when men dominated the workplace, and women were treated like little more than secretaries? (I have the same problem with "Mad Men", so I don't watch it.)
I could almost understand how this film got made, if it was made as some kind of reaction to "The Shawshank Redemption" - however, that film was released the following year, 1994. I saw the similarity of Butch's idolization of Alaska to Andy Dufresne's dream of making it to - Mexico, was it? However, there's a huge difference between the two characters - Dufresne was portrayed as an innocent man who'd been framed, and Butch is anything but innocent. It makes all the difference when we're presented with a central character that we want to root for. I'd root for Eastwood's Texas Ranger here, except we barely get to know him, and he doesn't seem to be in a rush to catch his man, since he decides to stop for a steak dinner (what was up with THAT?).
What's the opposite of a "feel-good" film? This is kind of like that.
Also starring Laura Dern (last seen in "I Am Sam"), with Bradley Whitford (last seen in "Kate & Leopold") and Bruce McGill.
RATING: 4 out of 10 mustard sandwiches
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