Maple Pictures' January '06 Releases

Green River Killer (January 28/06)

Green River Killer has been written and directed by Ulli Lommel, a 26-year veteran of the film industry with over 30 movies under his belt. Yet despite all of Lommel's experience, Green River Killer comes off as a completely inept and pointless effort that one would just assume is the work of a first-time filmmaker. The movie details the real-life exploits of a notorious serial killer named Gary Ridgway (played by George Kiseleff), who was responsible for the deaths of almost 50 women (mostly prostitutes). Lommel's decision to shoot Green River Killer using cheap digital cameras proves to be a disastrous choice almost immediately, as the film has all the style of a home video. Making matters worse are the various cinematic tricks employed by the filmmaker, presumably in an effort to compensate for the low-rent vibe. Lommel's equally incompetent screenplay eschews anything even resembling character development in favor of an astounding repetitive structure, in which Ridgway finds a new victim, kills them, and then moves onto the next one (this is repeated ad nauseam until the film reaches its merciful conclusion). The end result is an amateurish, utterly interminable piece of work that has absolutely nothing to offer in terms of keeping the viewer engaged (which is no small feat given the complexity of Ridgway himself, though Lommel refuses to even marginally examine the man's deranged psyche).

no stars out of

It's hard not to feel a little disappointed by Lord of War, given filmmaker Andrew Niccol's superb track record as both a director (Gattaca) and a screenwriter (The Truman Show). Niccol seems to have bitten off more than he can chew here, substituting feverishness for character development, which ultimately results in a film that's kind of entertaining but mostly just exhausting. Nicolas Cage stars as Yuri Orlov, a Ukranian immigrant who - along with his brother, Vitaly (Jared Leto) - climbs the ranks within the gunrunning community to become one of the most infamous arms dealers in the world. While his success brings him fame and a beautiful wife, Yuri must also contend with increasingly dangerous customers (including a ruthless African dictator and his psychotic son). Niccol has clearly been inspired by films such as Goodfellas and Boogie Nights, and initially infuses Lord of War with a similar sensibility - complete with period-appropriate rock songs on the soundtrack (ie Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" plays during a drug-heavy sequence). But as impressive as the film is stylistically, it's essentially empty in terms of its characters - a problem that's exacerbated by a mind-numbingly dense flow of information. The end result is a movie that's informative but only sporadically engaging - which is, obviously, not quite what one would've hoped from a new Niccol effort.

out of