20131207: Movie Review--Scenic Route

Scenic Route

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 86 minutes, thriller.  Aspect 1.85
2. IMDB: 6.4/10.0 from 3,471 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 62% on the meter; 55% liked it from 2,763 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 44,979 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz.
6. Starring: Josh Duhamel as Mitchell, Dan Fogler as Carter, Miracle Laurie as Joanne, Christie Burson as Joanne.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens with Mitchell and Carter beating the nonsense out of each other.  Mitchell prevails, and Carter looks either knocked out or possibly dead.


2. We jump back in time, and I'm quite ready to stop watching, given what I know will happen.  So, in the real opening of the film, Mitchell is sleeping, and Carter is driving an old truck through Death Valley, California.  The truck is old, and it breaks down; unfortunately, this turns out to be by design.  At least they are not sweating initially.  Mitchell has a broken foot and uses crutches.  Neither of them has a cell phone signal.  It's not that cool: one hundred and fifteen degrees.


3. They are in the middle of nowhere, sixty miles from the last town, one hundred miles to the next.  Mitchell has a wife and child, but still thinks about another woman named Karen.  Carter met Karen lately, and she wanted to talk about Mitchell.  Mitchell is tall and athletic; Carter is middle height and heavy.  From their consternation with each other, I do not see why they are ever doing anything together for a single moment.


4. There is a lot of talk which uncovers issues.  These issues make the two characters angry at each other, and explains the violence shown in the opening sequence.  One of the issues is that Carter sabotages every possibility of their getting rescued.  This is mortally stupid.  How can anyone care about such a character who betrays his friend to the point of death?  How can anyone care about the friend who allows the betrayal?


5. The pile of incidences of bonehead stupidity mount.  Carter talks Mitchell into getting a Mohawk haircut in the dark using a hand tool.  They drink windshield wiper fluid because it's wet; later they are puking while possible help drives by.  The next day, an elderly lady stops to see how they are doing, but drives away after seeing Mitchell's Mohawk with accompanying long cuts and blood stains.  Carter gives him hell for scaring her away.  A day or so later, they miss a tow truck that stopped next to the truck to render assistance.


6.  If this is your cup of tea, be sure to watch the entire film.  The pile continues to grow.


3. Conclusions
1. Kyle Killen wrote the horrid The Beaver, and this effort is horrible as well. The ending was a good hard shattering of illusions, and about the only almost competent part of the film.
2. One line summary: Darwinian selection at its best: two clods value bickering more than retaining life.
3. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 2/10 The scenery is ugly, whereas Death Valley showed me a number of lovely sights in the short time I spent there.  Looks like ugly by choice.


2. Sound: 8/10 Not bad.


3. Acting: 4/10 Josh Duhamel was OK, but not great.  Dan Fogler was totally useless.  I had never heard of him before; now he's on my deal-breaker list.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Why would anyone care about either character in this two man film?  They are painted as traitor and fool with nothing interesting about either of them.