| 0 |
|
 The Life of David Gale (2003)
Rated: R for violent images, nudity, language and sexuality.
Runtime: 130 mins.
Director: Alan Parker
Writer: Charles Randolph
Tagline: the crime is clear. The truth is not.
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet....complete cast
Genre: Drama/Crime
Most memorable quote: " I am no more afraid of the Grim Reaper than a protestant on Mother's Day."
|
|
| Reel commentary: Although The Life of David Gale fails in many areas of what makes a good movie, there is a great story wanting to get out. The Life of David Gale's disturbingly sinister premise of a gruesome murder and subsequent revelations is needlessly imprisoned by its delivery and its awkward construction.....full review |
|
Confused about what happened in the ending of The Life of David Gale? Click here to read the Life of David Gale plot explanation. (spoiler alert!)
return to top
by Frank Wilkins
If there has ever been a more controversial public opinion topic than abortion, it might have to be the discussion of the death penalty in America. While taking on the topic of abortion would certainly spell instant estrangement to a film and its makers, the topic of the death penalty seems to have found its way into Hollywood and has done a mighty fine job of alienating viewers and critics alike in The Life of David Gale. With a quick glance at plot summaries, trailers, and critic opinions, it first appears that director Alan Parker takes the death penalty topic head-on, chooses a side and throws it in our face with the conviction of persuading us to his side. However, when examined beneath the surface, it is clearly obvious that Parker and screenwriter Charles Randolph have first and foremost designed an engaging if not inept thriller that uses the death penalty topic as its motivation for passion. They wrap a haunting crime thriller in a highly volatile skin of death penalty issues, but the idea actually backfires and alienates an audience who can't see past their own ideologies.
Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), a cracker-jack New York news weekly reporter with a "reputation" is mysteriously summoned to grant an exclusive interview with Texas death row inmate David Gale (Kevin Spacey). Gale, a Harvard educated philosophy professor at the fictitious Austin University, is a staunch anti-capital punishment activist and ironically finds himself on death row in the last days of his appeals before his execution is to be carried out. He is accused of the rape and murder of fellow activist Constance Hallaway (Laura Linney). Spacey and Linney put on brilliant performances and display a discernable chemistry that lends the picture one its few flourishes with intelligent filmmaking. Linney takes an otherwise forgettable secondary character and brings it to the forefront, lending an air of convincing believability to the role.
Bitsey is challenged with the deadline of proving Gale's innocence before his execution in four days. Winslet barely holds her own in this "thriller" portion of the story that grows more and more far-fetched and flimsy with every turn. The picture really loses its credibility in this storyline as we are absolutely barraged with an endless series of cheap, teen-flick implausibilities, unbelievable coincidences and hateful Texas sterotypes. Cars over-heat at just the wrong time. Trains cross the road, ruining the chase scene. Inept cowboy-hat-wearing, snaggle-toothed lawyers botch the murder case and on and on. These inequities are unsuccessfully masked by sprinkling the story with out-of-place references to earlier car problems, bad phone cells etc. etc. In the midst of the investigation, Bitsey does not discover clues, she steps on them and they slap her in the face like a garden rake. A truly lively script would spend more time with this aspect of the story instead of rolling out the clues in a Saturday morning cartoon-like fashion. I am usually not overly critical of these types of plot inaccuracies, but in this case I think it's lazy storytelling – plain and simple.
Running as the schizophrenic backbeat to the thriller aspect of the movie is the story of Gale's life before his trial and subsequent conviction. We are told this story in a wonderfully creative method that displays original thought, yet fails to completely overcome the film's inequities. In a series of flashbacks, we learn that Gale was a loving father and successful professor brought down by one careless night with an ex-student. He loses his job, his wife, his son and ultimately his sense of purpose.
The Life of David Gale does not carry an anti-death penalty message. In fact, I don't think its intention was to take a stance on either side of the issue. It used the fiery backdrop of the death penalty issue to stir the passion of moviegoers. It's a story of people with nihilistic political views and the length they will go to to make their ideologies known.
Although The Life of David Gale fails in many areas of what makes a good movie, there is a great story wanting to get out. Unlike Fincher's Se7en, The Life of David Gale's disturbingly sinister premise of a gruesome murder and subsequent revelations is needlessly imprisoned by its delivery and its awkward construction.
Frank Wilkins
Screen formats: Widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic. Enhanced for 16x9 televisions.
Subtitles: Spanish; French; Closed Captioned
Language and Sound: English: Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1; French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; director's commentary; deleted scenes; featurettes; poster concepts; trailers; cast and crew information; DVD-ROM features.
return to top
Complete Cast:
| Kevin Spacey......... |
Dr. David Gale |
| Kate Winslet.......... |
Elizabeth (Bitsey) Bloom |
| Laura Linney ........ |
Constance Hallaway |
| Gabriel Mann.......... |
Zack |
| Matt Craven.......... |
Dusty |
| Rhona Mitra.......... |
Berlin |
| Leon Rippy.......... |
Braxton Belyeu |
| Jim Beaver........... |
Duke Grover |
return to top
|
|
|
0 |
