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| U-Turn |
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  (7/10)
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Runtime: 125 |
| Public Rating: 5.58 (38 votes) |
Director: Oliver Stone |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Drama/Film-Noir/Thriller |
Year: 1997 |
| Writer(s): John Ridley |
| Reviewed by: Timotei Centea |
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Oliver Stone has always been known as a daring, controversial, and unconventional director whose movies are often more extreme and borderline than those of other talented filmmakers. But, with this movie, did he go too far?
U-Turn is a dark, twisted thriller, who, in true film-noir tradition, happens in a strange place full of strange characters entangled in stranger situations. The film stars with Bobby Cooper driving throught the scorching Arizona desert when suddenly his radiator hose blows. So, he decides to stop in a city called Superior, Arizone. Bad decision. I won't go into more details about the plot, because it would spoil some dark, sick twists in the storyline, but suffice is to say that he will meet a score of bizarre characters including a mentally unstable mechanic, a lusty housewife, a dark, sick real-estate agent and a young couple with an unusual problem. As I mentioned earlier, the story is full of twists and turns, some expected, some not. It should also be mentioned that some of these twists are quite sick, so viewer discretion is advised.
The acting is both good and bad. Sean Penn, in the role of Bobby Cooper, is a fantastic actor who truly infuses personality into his character. Nick Nolte is interesting, though not overly impressive as the real-estate agent Jack McKenna, and Jennifer Lopez is underwhelming and unimpressive as Grace McKenna, Jack's wife. This is particularly dissapointing, because her role is very important, and I feel that a better actress would have increased the movie's impact. Rounding out the unusual cast of characters are veteran actors Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Voight, as well as talented newcomers Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes.
The direction is everything that you'd expect from Stone: unusual camera angles, many different film stock types, a variety of optical effects, and dark violence. As I stated in earlier reviews of Stone's work, you either like this style or you don't. I usually like directors who have more esoteric styles (Stone, Scorcese, Aronofsky), so this style appeals to me. The cinematography by Robert Richardson is, as always, impressive and the soundtrack composed of a number of famous tracks, is well-suited.
However, this movie has some flaws. First of all, the plot is pretty fragmented and not always coherent, and it feels as though it lags sometimes. Secondly, as stated earlier, Lopez's performance is underwhelming and unconvincing. And third of all, this movie touches some sensitive issues that I feel are better adressed in subtler, more thoughtful movies, and the way in which Stone deals with them seems a bit over-the-top, a bit extreme. It's not that I don't like a darker movie now and then, it's just that some parts of the movie left me a bit uneasy, and I don't mean the good, Kubrick kind of uneasy.
In conclusion, I enjoyed watching this movie, in spite of it's faults. So, if you like darker movies with a twisted sense of humor, and you can stomach something more extreme, give this one a try.
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