About Angela Wilson
Location: Midwest
Occupation: Web Producer/Freelance Writer
Bio: I love to read - and write - and surf. My FAV genres include mysteries, romantic suspense and thrillers. I'm finally working on my own thriller (under a pen name) and writing a book on marketing/PR for authors. I blog about writing at www.wickedwordsmith.com, and have accounts on various sites. You can find me on MySpace, Facebook and more by visiting www.angelawilson.net.
Posts: 222
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Mediocre small-town corruption film leaves me wondering if Val Kilmer will ever get back to Batman status.
I love Val Kilmer. I could typically watch anything he was in and be satisfied – even if the movie was so-so. His earliest hits Batman, Heat, and The Saint seemed to be the spark of something big. But that never came to be. It seemed he’d virtually disappeared in recent years, until his recent stint as a hilariously psychotic military leader in the sequel to Lonesome Dove. (No, I don’t like LD, but it was during the strike and I was desperate for something not a rerun. Kilmer’s character made it worth a watch.) I was hoping that was sign Kilmer was back.
Now, Kilmer stars in Conspiracy, a film about a corrupt small town that needs a can of whop ass to clean it up. MacPherson is a former Marine who served in Iraq with a friend who was trying to get his citizenship. After they are discharged, the friend calls MacPherson to come help him build his house in a dusty border town. The soldier is in a funk and decides to give up his meager city existence to be with his friend. But when he gets there, MacPherson is greated by hostile locals who deny that his friend even exists. As he investigates, MacPherson discovers a corporate giant behind a purified America movement is getting illegals out of the states – by any means necessary. This Marine decides it’s time for some changes.
The movie wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great, either. There were too many stereotypes and a predictable turn of events to make it a great watch. It was formatted like the old gunslinger films, where the anti-hero comes to town and takes on the Good Ol’ Boys doing wrong – not a bad theme if it’s brought up to standard. Hollywood was also making a statement against the war in Iraq, some subtle, and some not-so. Between MacPherson’s flashbacks to the bloody war (subtle) to Hallicorp, the name of the corporate giant intent on keeping the war going to make money (not-so-subtle). It also makes a statement against groups against illegal immigration – the fictional group in Conspiracy seems to be Hollywood’s interpretation of the Minutemen. Come on, Hollywood. This gets OLD. Instead of making a political statement through fiction, why not develop ideas of your own to allow audiences to escape? After all, that’s what we’re paying for – escapism. We get enough war and other crap on the 24/7 news.
I also thought it was weird that, Jennifer Esposito is the lover of the Big Bad Guy (Gary Cole), a man who hates illegals and pretty much anyone not a pure-blood, white bread American. Hm…
Still, Kilmer and costars Esposito and Cole are fabulous actors and stretch the limits of the two-dimensional script. The best scene in the film is between Esposito and Kilmer, when she tells him exactly what happened to his friend. There is one scene with the intense Kilmer stare. Unbelievable. It was so great, and I had to laugh at the reaction that stare got from the hotel clerk at the other end of it. And I will say the war flashbacks provided a good foundation for Kilmer’s character, though they did tend to overuse them in some instances.
Conspiracy isn’t a bad watch, but I wouldn’t pay full-price for it. If you want a great movie about revolt, get The Rundown. However, if you need a Kilmer fix, this would more than do the job.
The 90-minute DVD is thin on extras, but it does offer other movie previews, all in English.
