2025, David Yarovesky (Brightburn) -- download
Interesting, now that Gunn has followed up with his own idea that Superman was sent to Earth for less than savoury reasons, I wonder if it would be worthy rewatching "Brightburn", which was written by two other the other Gunn brothers.
Locked room movies, well locked luxury SUV in this case, usually lean on their elevator pitch. This one surely does. Eddie breaks into William's unlocked aforementioned SUV which instantly locks him inside. The movie is actually based on an Argentinian film called 4x4, which has had two other remakes in other countries, beyond the US. I guess people are mesmerized by the idea of Wealthy Citizen vs Poor Criminal, in today's world. I wonder if any succeed to any degree with the message contained within.
Locked room movies also depend on the performances contained within, as they are reduced to a small number of people, two in this case. Eddie is a petty criminal, full of excuses, dodging responsibility and the SUV is just sitting there. He needs $400 to have his shitbox of a van released from the repair shop and whatever he can find lying around, he will sell. Except he can't get out of this "Dolus". Try as he might, once the doors lock, he cannot break his way out. And the onboard phone keeps ringing. Eventually he answers, to the voice of William, a doctor who is just pissed at the world, and especially at the dregs of society like Eddie who just want to take take take. William's also more than a bit unhinged.
Of course, most of the movie is just William (Anthony Hopkins, A Lion in Winter) talking to Eddie (Bill Skarsgård, Boy Kills World) through the phone, leaving Skarsgård as the single visible performer. Hopkins is the perfect choice to do all his performance through his voice alone, but to be fair, its not a challenging role -- being pissed off and self-righteous is probably built into someone over the age of 75. Skarsgård does handle Eddie more delicately though, running back and forth between the loser he is, and the more thoughtful guy he could be, given he is actually intelligent. William wants Eddie to admit his culpability in what he has done, in what he perpetually does, which takes a while, and a few wounds. Eddie wants William to acknowledge that his demographic always has an upper hand, no matter how tough times get for them, but William isn't having it. In the end, only one moves forward.
Its not a terrible movie, but it doesn't do more than explore the idea, leaving any conclusions to us. Well, mostly. Some things are clear cut, some area... worth the debate. And I still like these kinds of movies that are exercises of the industry, of the makers behind them, as they are entertainment for our side of the screen.
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