I think Joel Schumacher is a really terrible filmmaker. Nearly every one of his films is an exercise in flashy stylistics with not a single thing to say. Look no further than his Batman films. But on one occasion, he managed to rise above his desire for eye-candy overkill. And produce something really worthwhile. And Falling Down was that film.
Falling Down would have to be the best film out of Schumacher's mostly awful body of work. Its the one thing he's ever done where he actually forgets about battering an audience into submission with glorious light effects and pretty costumes and sets. He's produced a violent story to be sure. But a curiously humane one too. And Michael Douglas is its human centre.
Douglas plays Bill Foster, a defence worker of seven years who gets laid off. He spends the next month and a half trying to make sense of the tattered shreds of his life. He's a man with no job. No wife and daughter because they've cut him out of their lives. And most importantly, he's a man without purpose.
But on one particularly hot day in LA, he finds a purpose. The opening scene is filled with glaringly aggressive closeups of Douglas' face. Sweating and twitching. All while he's sitting in his car in the middle of an agonisingly slow traffic jam. You know something is coming. Something is about to erupt. And that thing is Bill. In a split-second he snaps, abandons his car and tells the baffled motorist behind him he's going home.
Although Bill is indeed going home to his wife and daughter, he makes a few stops along the way. Bill has become so disillusioned by society's flaws and shortcomings, he feels a need to rectify it by lashing out at the mundane trappings of our everyday lives. With his crew-cut, white shirt and tie, briefcase in one hand and automatic weapon in the other, its Ordinary Joe meets GI Joe.
Its hard to believe Falling Down came from the same director of mindless trash like Batman & Robin. This is an acutely observed portrait of the sorry state of our affairs. And Michael Douglas turns in a real showstopper of an acting performance. Its a style of acting brimming with raw honesty. He plays a man not at the mercy of madness, but someone who's grown accustomed to it. This is the film Michael Douglas should have won an Oscar for.
The film is bold enough to portray Bill as an object of sympathy, even when he's committing shocking acts of violence. Bill is a middle aged man, who felt he was in control all of his life, and when everything that mattered to him fell to dust, it left him a broken man. His new mission gives him something to focus on, but I sense its not quite the liberating experience Bill envisioned it would be. Even when he tries to reassert control, his inherent emptiness still plagues him. What a brave, plaintively truthful performance!
Falling Down has received a fair amount of criticism, especially from racial minorities, who have lambasted the film because Bill's targets appear to be Korean shopkeepers or Latino street gangs. It is easy to view it in that context. That Bill is nothing more than a walking megaphone venting his hatred towards foreigners. But that's too narrow a vision. Schumacher's direction is really more expansive then you realise.
Yes he does trash the Korean's store, because he overcharges for a can of Coke, and Bill won't have enough change left over for the payphone. And yes he beats up Latino thugs. But these are just the bystanders along the way of Bill's inexorable journey. I don't think there's any intentional malice intended there.
And Schumacher's direction is quite excellent. He stages self-contained vignettes that are tiny microcosms of what exactly is wrong with this world. Like the scene at the fast-food restaurant. A classic example of the bureaucratic red tape that deliberately sets out to entangle people like poor Bill. Who hasn't felt like standing up for they're rights as a consumer? Bill can't have breakfast because he's a few minutes late. These are the type of absurdities Bill is campaigning against.
Falling Down works like a steadily unfolding carpet. And as Bill walks through the city of LA, he is wearing out the hollow material that its weaved from. There is a very natural flow to the film. Things fall into place quite beautifully. Such as when Bill makes the decision to carry a bag full of weapons instead of his normal briefcase. This is a man going through a steady metamorphosis from which there is no return.
Some people have felt disappointed by the somewhat low-key ending. But I felt it couldn't have ended any other way. Its an ending of weary resignation. No matter how much Bill has tried to add meaning to his rootless existence, the truth is society may have to live with its flaws. No matter what Bill's efforts.
One of the most daring films of the 90s, and any film that attempts to address society's failings with such frank honesty deserves strong commendation indeed.
Falling Down would have to be the best film out of Schumacher's mostly awful body of work. Its the one thing he's ever done where he actually forgets about battering an audience into submission with glorious light effects and pretty costumes and sets. He's produced a violent story to be sure. But a curiously humane one too. And Michael Douglas is its human centre.
Douglas plays Bill Foster, a defence worker of seven years who gets laid off. He spends the next month and a half trying to make sense of the tattered shreds of his life. He's a man with no job. No wife and daughter because they've cut him out of their lives. And most importantly, he's a man without purpose.
But on one particularly hot day in LA, he finds a purpose. The opening scene is filled with glaringly aggressive closeups of Douglas' face. Sweating and twitching. All while he's sitting in his car in the middle of an agonisingly slow traffic jam. You know something is coming. Something is about to erupt. And that thing is Bill. In a split-second he snaps, abandons his car and tells the baffled motorist behind him he's going home.
Although Bill is indeed going home to his wife and daughter, he makes a few stops along the way. Bill has become so disillusioned by society's flaws and shortcomings, he feels a need to rectify it by lashing out at the mundane trappings of our everyday lives. With his crew-cut, white shirt and tie, briefcase in one hand and automatic weapon in the other, its Ordinary Joe meets GI Joe.
Its hard to believe Falling Down came from the same director of mindless trash like Batman & Robin. This is an acutely observed portrait of the sorry state of our affairs. And Michael Douglas turns in a real showstopper of an acting performance. Its a style of acting brimming with raw honesty. He plays a man not at the mercy of madness, but someone who's grown accustomed to it. This is the film Michael Douglas should have won an Oscar for.
The film is bold enough to portray Bill as an object of sympathy, even when he's committing shocking acts of violence. Bill is a middle aged man, who felt he was in control all of his life, and when everything that mattered to him fell to dust, it left him a broken man. His new mission gives him something to focus on, but I sense its not quite the liberating experience Bill envisioned it would be. Even when he tries to reassert control, his inherent emptiness still plagues him. What a brave, plaintively truthful performance!
Falling Down has received a fair amount of criticism, especially from racial minorities, who have lambasted the film because Bill's targets appear to be Korean shopkeepers or Latino street gangs. It is easy to view it in that context. That Bill is nothing more than a walking megaphone venting his hatred towards foreigners. But that's too narrow a vision. Schumacher's direction is really more expansive then you realise.
Yes he does trash the Korean's store, because he overcharges for a can of Coke, and Bill won't have enough change left over for the payphone. And yes he beats up Latino thugs. But these are just the bystanders along the way of Bill's inexorable journey. I don't think there's any intentional malice intended there.
And Schumacher's direction is quite excellent. He stages self-contained vignettes that are tiny microcosms of what exactly is wrong with this world. Like the scene at the fast-food restaurant. A classic example of the bureaucratic red tape that deliberately sets out to entangle people like poor Bill. Who hasn't felt like standing up for they're rights as a consumer? Bill can't have breakfast because he's a few minutes late. These are the type of absurdities Bill is campaigning against.
Falling Down works like a steadily unfolding carpet. And as Bill walks through the city of LA, he is wearing out the hollow material that its weaved from. There is a very natural flow to the film. Things fall into place quite beautifully. Such as when Bill makes the decision to carry a bag full of weapons instead of his normal briefcase. This is a man going through a steady metamorphosis from which there is no return.
Some people have felt disappointed by the somewhat low-key ending. But I felt it couldn't have ended any other way. Its an ending of weary resignation. No matter how much Bill has tried to add meaning to his rootless existence, the truth is society may have to live with its flaws. No matter what Bill's efforts.
One of the most daring films of the 90s, and any film that attempts to address society's failings with such frank honesty deserves strong commendation indeed.