COLOR OF NIGHT
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (0 to 10): 3.4
Date Released: 8/19/94
Running Length: 2:03
Rated: R (Nudity, sex, language, violence, mature themes--it's got
'em all)
Starring: Bruce Willis, Jane March, Leslie Ann Warren, Ruben Blades, Scott Bakula, Brad Dourif, Lance Henriksen Director: Richard Rush Producers: Buzz Feitshans and David Matalon Screenplay: Matthew Chapman and Billy Ray Cinematography: Dietrich Lohmann Music: Dominic Frontiere Released by Hollywood Pictures
Where's John McClane when you need him? If nothing else, the main character from the two DIE HARD films would have livened up proceedings in this pathetically inept psychological thriller. Bruce Willis is in desperate need of something to revive his gasping career, and I can guarantee that COLOR OF NIGHT's Dr. Bill Capa isn't going to be the actor's panacea.
Jane March, taking on her first big Hollywood role, doesn't appear clothed any more often here than during her previous screen credit, THE LOVER. Admittedly, she is a very alluring woman, but this particular motion picture needs more than her exotic sexuality to save it--a whole lot more, in fact.
By nature, thrillers rely heavily upon their plots, and it's in that area that COLOR OF NIGHT displays its greatest weakness. The storyline is routine and the so-called "twists" are obvious enough to be guessed far in advance of their revelation. This rather unfortunate situation leads the audience to believe that the on-screen characters, who are far behind the viewers in their deductions, are stupid.
Bill Capa (Willis) was a thriving New York psychologist before one of his more disturbed patients threw herself out his office window and splattered all over the sidewalk below. Unable to continue seeing patients, Bill heads west to Los Angeles to spend time with his fellow shrink and old college chum, Bob Moore (Scott Bakula). It turns out to be as much business as pleasure, though, as Bob asks him to sit in on the infamous "Monday night group session." There, Bill is introduced to several interesting cases, including Sandra (Leslie Ann Warren), a woman obsessed with sex; Buck (Lance Henriksen), a bitter, aging man who can't get past the deaths of his wife and daughter; and Clark (Brad Dourif), a lawyer suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder. (Note that COLOR OF NIGHT isn't particularly sympathetic towards any character with psychological problems.)
When Bob is murdered several days later, Bill believes the guilty party to be a member of this group, although the police detective in charge of the case, Lt. Martinez (Ruben Blades), suspects him. Beginning with Bob's murder, things get progressively worse for the visiting doctor, culminating in his car being rear-ended. However, when he gets a look at the driver, a hauntingly beautiful young woman named Rose (Jane March), he starts to believe that maybe things aren't as bad as they seem. That is, until he opens his mailbox and a rattlesnake pops out.
The most interesting elements of COLOR OF NIGHT deal with the characters' psychological dysfunctions, subjects which are given the most perfunctory treatment allowed by the needs of the script. What we're left with is a big-budget exploitation film that suffers from awful directing. Usually it's the actors who go over-the-top, but this time that fault can be ascribed to the people behind the camera. Someone involved with this production certainly fell in love with slow motion shots.
It would be nice to say that somewhere amidst this massive overdramatization, there's something to redeem the film, but about the best I can say is that the dialogue between Capa and Martinez is honed to a fine edge. Those who stick through COLOR OF NIGHT to the end are in for a rather unpleasant surprise. It would be nice if it was possible to believe that the final ten minutes represent a clever parody of the norms of the genre, but that would be giving COLOR OF NIGHT too much credit. It takes itself distressingly seriously, which is something few viewers will be able to do.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
--
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com
"Am I politically correct today? Do I do crystals and New Age?
Obviously, women's music's for me--Edith Piaf, Bessie Smith, and Patti Page."
--Lynn Lavner
.
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