RAVENOUS A film review by Matt Williams
RATING: * 1/2 out of * * * *
Ah, what could be better than the return of the good ol' fashioned cannibal movie? Well, judging from Ravenous, quite a bit, actually. Though it nearly hits its stride as a black comedy, the film never quite finds its rhythm, and falters when it turns into a hybrid monster movie.
The film follows a war hero of the Mexican-American war, John Boyd (Guy Pearce). An accidental hero, Boyd's true cowardice is suspected by his superior (John Spencer). And, though promoted to Captain, Boyd is sent to a remote outpost in the California wilderness
The soldiers at the fort are eccentric and unusual (played by Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Jeremy Davies and Neal McDonough among others). But things take a turn for the bizarre when a stranger (Robert Carlyle) arrives at the fort with a dreadful tale of a settler expedition that turned to cannibalism during the harsh winter.
The soldiers mount a rescue party to see if they can locate any survivors. However, Boyd learns of a peculiar Native American legend. A man who eats the flesh of another becomes a wendigo, a vampire of sorts, who grows in strength, and appetite, with each mouthful of human flesh. Could this monstrous legend be true, and, if so, how can the soldiers hope to stop the beast?
Ravenous falls somewhere between being an out-and-out monster movie, and a very dark comedy, and it probably would have fared better as one or the other. As implemented in the film, the comic tone works better. In fact, when the film strays into the supernatural, things seem out of place, and don't quite click.
Robert Carlyle is a perfect fit for this film. His wiry, menacing presence has always been a bit on the feral side. However, Guy Pearce is a weak link in this film. Whereas his quiet fortitude worked wonders in L.A. Confidential, it never seems at home here.
>From its unusual scoring, to its casting, it is apparent that Ravenous is trying to be quirky. Sometimes it works (with a great performance by Jeffrey Jones), but mostly it doesn't (as with the overly distracting nature of the score). The search for the perfect cannibal movie continues...
Copyright 1999 Matt Williams
- Matt Williams (matt@cinematter.com) Reviewer for Cinematter: http://www.cinematter.com Home of nearly 700 reviews, and information on over 750 upcoming releases
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews