Conspiracy Theory (1997)

reviewed by
Alex Fung


CONSPIRACY THEORY (Warner Bros. - 1997) Starring Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart, Cylk Cozart Screenplay by Brian Helgeland Produced by Joel Silver, Richard Donner Directed by Richard Donner Running time: 135 minutes

                    ** (out of four stars)
                     Alternate Rating: C-

Note: Some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers. Be forewarned.

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Brian Helgeland is currently one of the Hollywood's hottest properties. Formerly known primarily for screenwriting the horror film 976-EVIL and for taking over writing duties from the Wachowski Brothers (themselves no longer to be trifled with after the industry notice and critical acclaim for their film BOUND) for Richard Donner's ASSASSINS, Mr. Helgeland has sinced churned out screenplays for Curtis Hanson's L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, scheduled for imminent release as of this writing, and for the post-apocalyptic thriller THE POSTMAN as a vehicle for Kevin Costner. Mr. Helgeland's own directorial debut, the thriller PARKER, is scheduled for release next year, and features no less of a star than the top A-list Mel Gibson in the lead; it is perhaps indicative of just how successful he has become that Mr. Helgeland is being called upon to deliver the screenplay for the highly-anticipated fourth film in the LETHAL WEAPON series. The pivotal film in Mr. Helgeland's resume? -- he wrote the screenplay for CONSPIRACY THEORY, and based upon the projects with which his name is now being associated, one might expect a stellar, original and inventive screenplay for the film which resulted in his career ascention. To some extent, he delivers -- CONSPIRACY THEORY has a dynamite premise. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing the film has going for it: after the film lays down the tracks for a truly original film with a promising setup, it promptly sinks into uncompelling, slightly inane generic formulaism.

Have you heard a good conspiracy theory lately? Jerry Fletcher has a thousand of them. From the real cause of the Vietnam War (a bet between Howard Hughes and Aristotle Onassis) to solemn cautions about the black helicopters constantly hovering overhead (they're on whisper mode), New York taxi driver Jerry (Mel Gibson) has a theory on just about everything, and he cheerfully prattles on about his paranoid ideas to his captive backseat audiences. When they're not nervously twitching, shifting back and forth, Jerry has his eyes lovingly focused on Justice Department agent Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts), and when he's not gazing through binoculars into her apartment during evenings or causing commotions by bursting into her workplace by day, he formulates new conspiracy theories by leafing through stacks of newspapers and archiving his latest wild notions into a self-published newsletter (circulation: five), "Conspiracy Theory". One of the theories in his latest newsletter seems to have struck a nerve; Jerry is snatched off the street in broad daylight by an anonymous group led by Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart), and taken to a secret location where he is forcefully interrogated (in a manner which attempts to be evocative of Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) about whom might be familiar with his theory, which presumably has some actual basis in fact. Jerry manages to pull off an unlikely escape, but is left wounded, on the run, and wondering *which one* of his theories is the cause for his persecution.

CONSPIRACY THEORY has a good setup with an terrific premise, and has the potential for great intrigue, but sadly the film *is not* interested in conspiracies at all -- what the film *is* interested in is chase scenes. The film could have latched onto its promised premise and had, say, Jerry backtrack through all of his assorted zany conjectures in order to attempt to determine why he's the subject of this intense, lethal manhunt, or at least do *something* vaguely interesting, but instead CONSPIRACY THEORY slides into conventional pursuit thriller mechanizations. Virtually every unimaginative convention of the genre appears at some point in the film: in a cat-and-mouse game, Hero demonstrates his wily nature by outsmarting an attempted capture by Villain; Hero has to turn to dubious and reluctant Heroine for refuge while trying to avoid capture; initially-skeptical Heroine begins to truly realize the grave danger that Hero (and by association, Heroine herself) now faces; the requisite highly-destructive storming of an abode by a ruthless heavily-armed armada which Our Heros escape by the skin of their teeth; the car chases; the planting of seeds of doubt into the mind of Heroine; gunbattles; cool, sinister pronouncements by Villain; many scenes of Hero and Heroine fleeing, hand in hand, into the night; and, of course, the most predictable -- Hero and Heroine fall in love.

Wasted in the proceedings is a fine, jittery manic performance by Mr. Gibson -- he is well-known for this sort of performance, often playing wild-eyed characters such as his famous Martin Riggs role in the LETHAL WEAPON series, but what is notable about Mr. Gibson's work in CONSPIRACY THEORY is how distinctly eccentric and atypically unempathetic his depiction of Jerry is (at least in the first quarter of the film); his creation is a fascinating genuine curiosity at which to be gawked, not merely a lovable kook (which he unfortunately becomes in the film's final three-quarters). Carter Burwell's big, brassy score is notable; while I do not think that it coalesces particularly well with the tone of the film (what that there is), it is inventive and cheery, and gives the interesting opening title sequence additional energy.

CONSPIRACY THEORY is a frustrating viewing experience: to dangle the promise of an engaging and original story before us and then dash it away with generic action (and rather *unaccomplished, poorly-handled* action, at that) is an unnecessary miscalculation. In terms of filmwatching, there is little more painful than seeing a potentially strong film suddenly turn woefully feeble. In CONSPIRACY THEORY, the screech of just such a turn can be heard in the scene when Jerry's wheelchair tumbles down the final flight of stairs.

          - Alex Fung
          email: aw220@freenet.carleton.ca
          web  : http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/

-- Alex Fung (aw220@freenet.carleton.ca) | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/ "Let's hurt somebody." - Aaron Eckhart, IN THE COMPANY OF MEN


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