Random Acts of Violence
Directed by Jay Baruchel. Written by Jay Baruchel and Jesse Chabot
Random Acts of Violence comes from the Canadian mixture of Michael Cera and Christian Slater Jay Baruchel adapting a comic about an artist who draws murder comics and these comics become the inspiration for a serial killer. It is a whole bunch of meta. The movie is even designed to resemble a comic in style. The colors are bright and extra heightened. It is similar to what they did with Punisher:War Zone. You are not meant to assume any of this takes place in reality.
Well it does at first. Jesse Williams(Grey's Anatomy) is the creator of Slasherman, the murder comic ending its run. He is searching for an ending that is escaping him at every turn. His business partner, assistant and girlfriend decide to take a road trip to some big comic event. His girlfriend is doing research for a book. A killer is on their path and they are about to cross.
Now that we know what the movie is about, let's hear some positives. There aren't any. The idea is sound. It has elements that pique your interest and make you want to go on the journey. The film wipes its butt with it. It rips through a huge chunk of the potential. It forces the characters into corners that doesn't feel like they would naturally go there. It brings up these elements of art vs reality and the commodification of true crime but it doesn't do anything with it. It pushes it out of the way in favor of some gore set piece. Gore set pieces are fine but they're alot of nothing when it doesn't have anything backing it up.
The other thing is the characters. They are all a giant bunch of assholes and I could not stand them. They had me wanting to throw a boot through my television. Obviously I didn't do that because that would have been expensive. There was a scene at a police station with the most unprofessional police officer I've ever seen. All I could remember in between bouts of seeing red(movie's style not anger) is how much I didn't care what happened to these people. I felt no sadness at their loss. I felt only apathy and eventually rage at having 70 minutes wasted. The potential was flushed away.
Jay Baruchel needs to stop and take a moment before making another movie. He messed this one up good. Why do horror movies cast their characters almost exclusively as assholes? Why? I enjoy watching a killer take out buttholes but the movies doing this aren't those Jason Voorhees flicks. It works somewhat in those. If it becomes the norm, it feels like hell. You're forced to spend an hour and a half on average with people you wouldn't be caught dead associating with. I don't associate with anyone anymore nowadays anyway. This is what happens when friends of 14 years tell you you're the enemy of the country. Why would I want to spend more time with people like a Facebook comment section? Why horror movies? You can spend some time on the human characters too otherwise you become Rob Zombie. The murder and bloodshed become meaningless.
I give this movie an F. I hated this movie.
Random Acts of Violence comes from the Canadian mixture of Michael Cera and Christian Slater Jay Baruchel adapting a comic about an artist who draws murder comics and these comics become the inspiration for a serial killer. It is a whole bunch of meta. The movie is even designed to resemble a comic in style. The colors are bright and extra heightened. It is similar to what they did with Punisher:War Zone. You are not meant to assume any of this takes place in reality.
Well it does at first. Jesse Williams(Grey's Anatomy) is the creator of Slasherman, the murder comic ending its run. He is searching for an ending that is escaping him at every turn. His business partner, assistant and girlfriend decide to take a road trip to some big comic event. His girlfriend is doing research for a book. A killer is on their path and they are about to cross.
Now that we know what the movie is about, let's hear some positives. There aren't any. The idea is sound. It has elements that pique your interest and make you want to go on the journey. The film wipes its butt with it. It rips through a huge chunk of the potential. It forces the characters into corners that doesn't feel like they would naturally go there. It brings up these elements of art vs reality and the commodification of true crime but it doesn't do anything with it. It pushes it out of the way in favor of some gore set piece. Gore set pieces are fine but they're alot of nothing when it doesn't have anything backing it up.
The other thing is the characters. They are all a giant bunch of assholes and I could not stand them. They had me wanting to throw a boot through my television. Obviously I didn't do that because that would have been expensive. There was a scene at a police station with the most unprofessional police officer I've ever seen. All I could remember in between bouts of seeing red(movie's style not anger) is how much I didn't care what happened to these people. I felt no sadness at their loss. I felt only apathy and eventually rage at having 70 minutes wasted. The potential was flushed away.
Jay Baruchel needs to stop and take a moment before making another movie. He messed this one up good. Why do horror movies cast their characters almost exclusively as assholes? Why? I enjoy watching a killer take out buttholes but the movies doing this aren't those Jason Voorhees flicks. It works somewhat in those. If it becomes the norm, it feels like hell. You're forced to spend an hour and a half on average with people you wouldn't be caught dead associating with. I don't associate with anyone anymore nowadays anyway. This is what happens when friends of 14 years tell you you're the enemy of the country. Why would I want to spend more time with people like a Facebook comment section? Why horror movies? You can spend some time on the human characters too otherwise you become Rob Zombie. The murder and bloodshed become meaningless.
I give this movie an F. I hated this movie.