The Salton Sea
Cast
Val Kilmer .... Danny Parker/Tom Van Allen
Vincent D'Onofrio .... Pooh-Bear
Adam Goldberg .... Kujo
Luis Guzm�n .... Quincy
Doug Hutchison .... Gus Morgan
Directed by
D.J. Caruso
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
5/10. It's surprising that Val Kilmer's ego isn't very low. He starred in
the small release The Salton Sea, which, with its controversial
topics and all, would not get much audience attendance. So for Castle
Rock to get some money, they would go to desperate measures by
plastering Kilmer's name all over everything. Yet there's no mention
of him at all, which must be hurting to Kilmer. The studio would
rather release a movie starless that go with Kilmer's name.
In possibly one of the worst beginnings in film history, we see lots
of drug users doing drugs. And instantly director D.J. Caruso wants
us to think, "Wow, this is powerful. People do bad things." It's
basically anything but. It's only hard to watch. While he considers
it to be enlightening, I consider it to be idiotic. Then people buy
drugs. Then we find out two-thirds of the way through that the story
has a purpose, and that Kilmer was undercover with the FBI to
investigate drugs, while he was going on a Memento-ish crusade to
avenge his wife's murder.
While movies about drugs are alright, this one is so gritty, has so
many unscrupulous characters that it's impossible to find one
redeeming quality about it. It even says that vengeance and drugs are
good if it gets you to where you want to go. And to make matters
worse, it's shot in such a dark tone it's impossible to see anything
that's happening with the throwaway cast, which includes Luiz Guzman,
Doug Hutchison, Anthony LaPaglia, Peter Sarasgaard, and R. Lee Ermey.
Only Vincent D'Onofrio stands out as actually doing something
memorable as "Pooh-Bear", the drug dealer without a nose.
As I said before, the first part of The Salton Sea is an atrocity.
There's nothing coherent going on, and it's totally worthless. As it
moves on towards an actual plot, it gets more involving, now that
Caruso realizes that he brought the point across that drugs are bad,
and goes into a story that's partially interesting. The character of
Pooh-Bear is quite different. For example, his idea of fun is tying
pigeons to an RC car and simulating the Kennedy assassination. You
don't get that every day. And you don't always get good drug movies
every day. And this is not a good drug movie.
Rated R for strong violence, drug use, language and some sexuality.
Running time: 103 minutes
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