Southland Tales

Filmmaker Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko) sophomore effort serves up nearly two-and-a-half hours of incoherent bluster that's meant to be a satirical take on the post-9/11 world (like Dr. Strangelove was on the Cold War era), but fails miserably in all respects. Southland Tales is set in a post-nuclear-attack America suffering from an acute lack of oil. In this paranoid climate, the government has become crypto-fascist, the Internet is an official propaganda tool, surveillance and defense devices are ubiquitous, the Iraq War has expanded, and a group of weird foreign scientists have developed new technology for converting sea waves into energy. Set against this background are a bewildering array of supposedly colorful characters, including an action movie star married to the daughter of the vice president but living with a porn star; twin brothers, one a troubled cop and the other a war veteran; and several wild-eyed revolutionaries. As to what happens, that's a good question, though it somehow involves time travel and features a cast that includes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Justin Timberlake. What's eminently clear is that the viewer has to suffer through a cascade of purportedly clever allusions and wild stylistic flourishes before arriving at an apocalyptic finale that inverts T.S. Eliot by arguing that the world ends not with a whimper but a bang. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a “USIDent TV: Surveilling the Southland” behind-the-scenes featurette (34 min.), the animated short “This is the Way the World Ends” by Dee Austin Robertson (9 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a mess of a movie.] (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Nov. 11, 2008—Sony, 144 min., R, $28.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2006's Southland Tales features an excellent transfer and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound. The bonus features on this release are almost identical to those on the standard DVD release, including a “USIDent TV: Surveilling the Southland” behind-the-scenes featurette (34 min.), the animated short “This is the Way the World Ends” by Dee Austin Robertson (9 min.), and trailers. New to the Blu-ray release is an audio commentary by writer/director Richard Kelly, and “The Prequel Saga” graphic novel gallery. Bottom line: although it looks better in Blu, this is still pretty much a cinematic mess.]