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Los Angeles, July 2008 - and it's an election year, with the whole
election hinging on the Californian results - that's the prediction at
least. But the country's in utter chaos as on one hand it's involved in
too many wars all at once so general draft is in effect again, on the
other economic hardship put the country on the brink of civil war. And
where there's a war brewing, there are always fractions that try to profit
on both sides, which would on one side be the Neo-Marxist movement, on the
other mysterious scientist Baron von Westphalen (Wallace Shawn), who
wields his power over Republican vice presidential candidate Frost (Holmes
Osborne). Caught somewhere in the middle is action movie star Boxer
Santaros (Dwayne Johnson), who's on one hand married to Frost's daughter
(Mandy Moore), but has on the other hand had an affair with porn star
Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), which he doesn't even deny but is
blackmailed with. And on the one hand, he has somehow lost his memory, on
the other he has written a script that's a key to the many inexplicable
things happening of late - inexplicable things that a cop (Seann William
Scott) suffering from PTSD, who might or might not have an identical twin
or be his identical twin, might be the key for ...
I'll be perfectly honest, above synopsis doesn't do Southland
Tales too much justice, as for much of the time it's rather unclear
what the film's really about, with many key plot points rendered absurd by
their later explanations - which seems to be 100% intentional in this case
and really works for the movie, which comes across as a highly original
blend of action movie and self parody, political satire and weird science
fiction, esoteric fantasy and arthouse cinema, a film that takes one on a
trip for the trip's sake, not for its outcome, and that despite its many
(intentional) inconsitencies flows really nicely. And if you don't
overthink it and just enjoy, you'll be greatly entertained, too.
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