WHITE SANDS
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1992 Frank Maloney
WHITE SANDS is a film directed by Roger Donaldson, from a script by Daniel Pyne. It stars Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mimi Rogers. Rated R for profanity, violence, mature themes.
WHITE SANDS is part conspiracy-paranoia thriller, part whodunit. It features two excellent performers in the persons of Willem Dafoe and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, along with the less satisfying and smirking Mickey Rourke (who is still my idea of a bargain-basement Bruce Willis), a slightly unlikely Samuel L. Jackson as a too-street-wise FBI agent, and the too-truncated presence of Mimi Rogers. It features the directorial skills of Roger Donaldson (NO WAY OUT), who confronts a largely unbelievable story with a keen visual sense and a tight story-telling skill that keeps us largely guessing. It also features a script by Daniel Pryne (PACIFIC HEIGHTS, DOC HOLLYWOOD), a script that locks onto our willingness to believe in corruption and the pursuit of power for its sake. Unfortunately, Pryne cannot do so in a wholly credible way, and the stretches the audience has to make to keep the story alive are asking a bit much in the end.
The film wants to be provocative and timely; it wants to speak to our mistrust of government; and it wants to entertain us. It is a game effort, even if a little short of its goals. Dafoe and Mastrantonio are each excellent in their efforts. He's a sheriff's deputy, but he's a little too smart as well as a little too unsupervised to be totally acceptable. Dafoe has an interesting face and an interesting way about him. It's a pleasure to watch him work his way deeper and deeper into the mystery he first uncovers in the New Mexico desert. Mastrantonio is a particular favorite of mine and here she is well used to create an interesting character, a rich stylish woman with some distinctly unstylish connections, a woman who is lonely and who faces her loneliness with humor and a hunger for adventure.
Mickey Rourke is just plain impossible.
This is a handsome movie with some fine moments. I can give it a limited recommendation, especially for bargain ticket buyers. Or wait for the video; it will work pretty well on the small screen; its best qualities are intimate ones.
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney .
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