Ravenous
3/4
Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Neal McDonough, Jeremy Davies, John Spencer, Stephen Spinella
Rated R for Considerable Gore and Strong Violence
Antonia Bird's thriller "Ravenous," opens up with an ominous quote (as some movies do). She chose Nietzche's famous quote: "He that fights with monsters should look to himself that does not become a monster."
And right under that slides in another popular quote: "Eat Me!" (credited to Anonymous, of course).
Both quotes are appropriate, but more importantly, they set the tone for the movie. Yes, this is a thriller (and one could argue that it falls into the horror category as well), but it's immediately apparent that Bird isn't afraid of twisting our expectations.
Captain John Boyd (Pearce) has just been proclaimed a hero for getting behind enemy lines during a battle of the Mexican-American War. But the truth, as his superior (Spencer in his final role) tells him, isn't nearly as glorious. He only ended up behind enemy lines after he chickened out at the start of the battle and was carried to the pile of corpses when he played dead. He's sent to Fort Spencer in the mountains of California, which "thrives on tedium." He meets the other inhabitants: Col. Hart (Jones), the kind commander, Reich (McDonough), the grunt, the perpetually stoned Cleaves (Arquette), the spiritual Toffler (Davies) and the always drunk vet/doctor Knox (Spinella). Shortly after his arrival, a wounded man (Carlyle) arrives at the camp and tells a terrifying story about a trapped wagon train that descended into cannibalism. Thinking there might be survivors, a few of the soldiers journey to the cave where it happened and find that things are much more frightening than they believed.
The idea at the heart of the movie is a Native American myth where if one person eats the flesh of another, they absorb the other person's strength. It's an interesting idea, and Bird makes the most out of it. She uses this idea to reference vampire stories, morality, and Manifest Destiny.
The acting is right on the mark for such a strange movie. Guy Pearce, who's always good in even the worst of movies (like "Lawless"), is great as the shell-shocked Boyd. A life of tedium and away from war is just what he needs, but not what he'll get. Robert Carlyle relishes the opportunity to go over-the-top, and he's always fun while still carrying an air of menace. Jeffrey Jones, who will be forever known as the evil Mr. Rooney in the overrated "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," takes advantage of the opportunity to take a starring role. He's quite good, and steals his scenes. David Arquette has absolutely nothing to do except act high as a kite.
It goes without saying that "Ravenous" is awash with blood and gore. And it is. There is more blood and guts than in most horror movies, and considering the tone and the bleak cinematography (which looks great, by the way), the film probably deserves an NC-17. Like the best filmmakers, Bird isn't afraid of pushing buttons or turning away high-strung viewers.
Speaking with honesty, "Ravenous" is closer to a misfire than an success (perhaps that had something to do with the unhappy production history, where the director was changed twice and writer Ted Griffin was forced to make "countless rewrites"). Still, the film takes chances, lots of them, and you'll never hear me say that the end result is ever uninteresting.
Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Neal McDonough, Jeremy Davies, John Spencer, Stephen Spinella
Rated R for Considerable Gore and Strong Violence
Antonia Bird's thriller "Ravenous," opens up with an ominous quote (as some movies do). She chose Nietzche's famous quote: "He that fights with monsters should look to himself that does not become a monster."
And right under that slides in another popular quote: "Eat Me!" (credited to Anonymous, of course).
Both quotes are appropriate, but more importantly, they set the tone for the movie. Yes, this is a thriller (and one could argue that it falls into the horror category as well), but it's immediately apparent that Bird isn't afraid of twisting our expectations.
Captain John Boyd (Pearce) has just been proclaimed a hero for getting behind enemy lines during a battle of the Mexican-American War. But the truth, as his superior (Spencer in his final role) tells him, isn't nearly as glorious. He only ended up behind enemy lines after he chickened out at the start of the battle and was carried to the pile of corpses when he played dead. He's sent to Fort Spencer in the mountains of California, which "thrives on tedium." He meets the other inhabitants: Col. Hart (Jones), the kind commander, Reich (McDonough), the grunt, the perpetually stoned Cleaves (Arquette), the spiritual Toffler (Davies) and the always drunk vet/doctor Knox (Spinella). Shortly after his arrival, a wounded man (Carlyle) arrives at the camp and tells a terrifying story about a trapped wagon train that descended into cannibalism. Thinking there might be survivors, a few of the soldiers journey to the cave where it happened and find that things are much more frightening than they believed.
The idea at the heart of the movie is a Native American myth where if one person eats the flesh of another, they absorb the other person's strength. It's an interesting idea, and Bird makes the most out of it. She uses this idea to reference vampire stories, morality, and Manifest Destiny.
The acting is right on the mark for such a strange movie. Guy Pearce, who's always good in even the worst of movies (like "Lawless"), is great as the shell-shocked Boyd. A life of tedium and away from war is just what he needs, but not what he'll get. Robert Carlyle relishes the opportunity to go over-the-top, and he's always fun while still carrying an air of menace. Jeffrey Jones, who will be forever known as the evil Mr. Rooney in the overrated "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," takes advantage of the opportunity to take a starring role. He's quite good, and steals his scenes. David Arquette has absolutely nothing to do except act high as a kite.
It goes without saying that "Ravenous" is awash with blood and gore. And it is. There is more blood and guts than in most horror movies, and considering the tone and the bleak cinematography (which looks great, by the way), the film probably deserves an NC-17. Like the best filmmakers, Bird isn't afraid of pushing buttons or turning away high-strung viewers.
Speaking with honesty, "Ravenous" is closer to a misfire than an success (perhaps that had something to do with the unhappy production history, where the director was changed twice and writer Ted Griffin was forced to make "countless rewrites"). Still, the film takes chances, lots of them, and you'll never hear me say that the end result is ever uninteresting.
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