I Witness is an overly earnest little film about politics, drugs and mass murder on the U.S./Mexico border. The basic idea of the story isn't that bad, but it was realized with too many characters, too little mystery and an ending where you can pinpoint the exact moment when these filmmakers decided to stop caring whether the movie made any sense or not.
James Rhodes (Jeff Daniels) is a human rights activist who's been sent down to observe a vote to unionize at an American-owned chemical company in Tijuana. While he's there, Rhodes gets involved in the investigation of 27 dead Mexican peasants founds in a drug smuggling tunnel. The authorities want to blame it on a enigmatic drug lord, but Rhodes suspects there's something else going on. His search for answers is assisted by the prideful Detective Castillo (Clifton Collins Jr.) and his work with the unionization vote is complicated by pretty U.S. trade representative Emily Thomas (Portia de Rossi). There's also a U.S. State Department official named Douglas Draper (James Spader) who is an old friend of Rhodes. I think Draper was intended to be a significant character in this film, but he really just floats around and gives off that vibe that James Spader gave off when he was thin. As opposed to the vibe Spader has given off since he got fat. There aren't many actors whose on screen presence has changed so greatly over the course of their career. I really hope CGI reaches the point one day where thin Spader from Sex, Lies & Videotape can do a buddy cop movie with fat Spader from Boston Legal.
Anyway Rhodes just sort of wanders around from place to place, getting abducted by drug gangsters and pointedly NOT having sex with Emily, until a guy on his death bed explains the whole story to him. I don't want to give away the ending but let me just note, the moment when drug gangsters storm in like the cavalry to rescue Rhodes, even though there's absolutely no way they could know he needed rescuing and absolutely no reason they should rescue him in the first place, that's the moment when you know these filmmakers no longer care if I Witness makes any sense.
Honestly, this isn't a horrendous film. Jeff Daniels is a perfectly acceptable hero, though he does look far too much like Jeff Bridges from the 1976 King Kong remake. The script is making a noble effort at saying something about the complexities of life, death and business on the U.S./Mexico border. I suppose the direction is adequate. But a paucity of plot, a phalanx of unnecessary characters and a plethora of poorly written scenes does produce a pedestrianly bad movie.
James Rhodes (Jeff Daniels) is a human rights activist who's been sent down to observe a vote to unionize at an American-owned chemical company in Tijuana. While he's there, Rhodes gets involved in the investigation of 27 dead Mexican peasants founds in a drug smuggling tunnel. The authorities want to blame it on a enigmatic drug lord, but Rhodes suspects there's something else going on. His search for answers is assisted by the prideful Detective Castillo (Clifton Collins Jr.) and his work with the unionization vote is complicated by pretty U.S. trade representative Emily Thomas (Portia de Rossi). There's also a U.S. State Department official named Douglas Draper (James Spader) who is an old friend of Rhodes. I think Draper was intended to be a significant character in this film, but he really just floats around and gives off that vibe that James Spader gave off when he was thin. As opposed to the vibe Spader has given off since he got fat. There aren't many actors whose on screen presence has changed so greatly over the course of their career. I really hope CGI reaches the point one day where thin Spader from Sex, Lies & Videotape can do a buddy cop movie with fat Spader from Boston Legal.
Anyway Rhodes just sort of wanders around from place to place, getting abducted by drug gangsters and pointedly NOT having sex with Emily, until a guy on his death bed explains the whole story to him. I don't want to give away the ending but let me just note, the moment when drug gangsters storm in like the cavalry to rescue Rhodes, even though there's absolutely no way they could know he needed rescuing and absolutely no reason they should rescue him in the first place, that's the moment when you know these filmmakers no longer care if I Witness makes any sense.
Honestly, this isn't a horrendous film. Jeff Daniels is a perfectly acceptable hero, though he does look far too much like Jeff Bridges from the 1976 King Kong remake. The script is making a noble effort at saying something about the complexities of life, death and business on the U.S./Mexico border. I suppose the direction is adequate. But a paucity of plot, a phalanx of unnecessary characters and a plethora of poorly written scenes does produce a pedestrianly bad movie.