8mm (1999) 1 star out of 4. Starring Nicolas Cage and Joaquin Phoenix.
You come out of some movies scratching your head, wondering what the studio was thinking by green-lighting the project or what possessed an actor to sign on with such a fiasco.
8mm is one of those movies.
This new thriller, starring Nicolas Cage, is overlong, slow, violent, nasty and unredeeming.
8mm sputters along, nearly running out of steam before it even gets started.
Cage plays Tom Welles, a private investigator hired by the widow of a recently deceased industrialist to discover the truth behind a snuff film found among her late husband's effects.
The investigation leads Welles, a devoted family man with a wife and baby daughter, into the darkest, scummiest corners of the pornography underground. Once there, Welles must use all his will to overcome the obstacles thrown in his path as well as keep from drifting away from what he holds most dear.
Cage, at least through the first three-quarters of 8mm, seems catatonic. He is passive and languid, rarely showing any spark.
It is only when the movie shifts mode from a mystery to a revenge melodrama that Cage shows some life. But it is not enough to lift this yawner out of its doldrums.
Only Joaquin Phoenix as the streetwise Max, who introduces Welles to the squalor and horror of the porno underground, shows any flashes of character and humor. But, again, it is not enough to compensate for the film's malaise.
Director Joel Schumacher can't seem to do anything with the material. But that is what one can expect from the individual who nearly destroyed the Batman franchise. Working from a script by Andrew Kevin Walker, Schumacher fails to bring any originality or verve to the proceedings.
8mm chugs along like an overloaded freight trying to climb a steep grade.
Unfortunately, we have to come along for the ride.
8mm is a movie destined for a quick video transfer.
Bob Bloom the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at cbloom@iquest.net
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