A couple of months ago, I watched the Twin Peaks series in full for the first time and, for the most part, enjoyed it. It was charming yet mysterious, and for a while it kept your eyes glued to the screen. Sadly, after Laura's killer was revealed, it went completely off the tracks and even the acclaimed ending of the second season deeply disappointed and bewildered me, but I was willing to chalk it up to the fact that David Lynch was attempting to undo the damage made during his absence. With all that in mind, I had high hopes for this film, as Lynch would once again be able to take control of his story and provide a new insight into the chilling story of Laura Palmer. Unfortunately, it really missed the mark for me.
10 minutes into the movie, I was already feeling deeply disappointed. The Teresa Banks story is clearly very unfinished and holds no bearing to the grand scheme of the film. Further still, Chris Isaak is no Kyle MacLachlan, but even MacLachlan's parts seemed largely pointless, and I have no idea what the hell that David Bowie cameo was for. Granted, these are things that I believe are discussed in The Return, however at the time it would've been totally baffling. Furthermore, I'm sure people would've felt ripped off in these first 10 minutes as I did considering the film is supposed to be chronicling the final days of Laura Palmer as advertised. Nevertheless, the problems don't end there.
The Laura Palmer story, while made engaging by Sheryl Lee, is simply a live-action retelling of almost everything we already know from the series. I don't have a big problem with this per se, but I was really hoping for more of a new insight into her story. This does come in the form of the scenes with Leland/BOB which are all very good, however time which should've been spent there was instead wasted with Bobby, James and Donna. Don't get me wrong, they are all important characters when discussing Laura's story, but having Donna attend One Eyed Jack's and having Bobby kill someone were pointless and (especially in the case of Bobby) nonsensical additions. Having James around was also pointless because despite allegedly caring about her so much he does absolutely nothing to try and stop her from running away.
On top of all this, there's the lacklustre Black Lodge stuff. I'm perfectly fine with absurdity (I really love how it's done in Mulholland Drive) but here it just feels really forced with the weird costumes and random dialogue. It would be better if we were at least given some context, but instead it's just kind of...there. I understand once again that this kind of content is discussed further in The Return but as a stand alone film it feels like it was something that either should've been expanded upon or simply scrapped. I can certainly see why audiences at the time felt bewildered.
Overall, while the movie did have some redeeming qualities, I can't help but feel like it just fell flat on its face. I think the fact that Lynch made this movie because 'he couldn't leave the world of Twin Peaks' is quite telling as this movie is clearly made primarily for him and his most die-hard fans who think everything he does is the deepest artwork ever created. Perhaps I'd have to see The Return to fully appreciate parts of this, but even without the Black Lodge/lore stuff this movie still undeniably has a lot of flaws in my opinion.
10 minutes into the movie, I was already feeling deeply disappointed. The Teresa Banks story is clearly very unfinished and holds no bearing to the grand scheme of the film. Further still, Chris Isaak is no Kyle MacLachlan, but even MacLachlan's parts seemed largely pointless, and I have no idea what the hell that David Bowie cameo was for. Granted, these are things that I believe are discussed in The Return, however at the time it would've been totally baffling. Furthermore, I'm sure people would've felt ripped off in these first 10 minutes as I did considering the film is supposed to be chronicling the final days of Laura Palmer as advertised. Nevertheless, the problems don't end there.
The Laura Palmer story, while made engaging by Sheryl Lee, is simply a live-action retelling of almost everything we already know from the series. I don't have a big problem with this per se, but I was really hoping for more of a new insight into her story. This does come in the form of the scenes with Leland/BOB which are all very good, however time which should've been spent there was instead wasted with Bobby, James and Donna. Don't get me wrong, they are all important characters when discussing Laura's story, but having Donna attend One Eyed Jack's and having Bobby kill someone were pointless and (especially in the case of Bobby) nonsensical additions. Having James around was also pointless because despite allegedly caring about her so much he does absolutely nothing to try and stop her from running away.
On top of all this, there's the lacklustre Black Lodge stuff. I'm perfectly fine with absurdity (I really love how it's done in Mulholland Drive) but here it just feels really forced with the weird costumes and random dialogue. It would be better if we were at least given some context, but instead it's just kind of...there. I understand once again that this kind of content is discussed further in The Return but as a stand alone film it feels like it was something that either should've been expanded upon or simply scrapped. I can certainly see why audiences at the time felt bewildered.
Overall, while the movie did have some redeeming qualities, I can't help but feel like it just fell flat on its face. I think the fact that Lynch made this movie because 'he couldn't leave the world of Twin Peaks' is quite telling as this movie is clearly made primarily for him and his most die-hard fans who think everything he does is the deepest artwork ever created. Perhaps I'd have to see The Return to fully appreciate parts of this, but even without the Black Lodge/lore stuff this movie still undeniably has a lot of flaws in my opinion.