TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

ALSO OPENING

More movies opening in theaters this week.

ADVERTISEMENT

CHRISTY LEMIRE

The Associated Press

Published: October 2, 2008

BLINDNESS *½

The blind literally lead the blind -- to hell and back -- in the pretentious, preposterous allegory "Blindness."

An unnamed disease afflicts the unnamed citizens of an unnamed city, all of which is too precious. One by one, the victims are left sightless, but they see white instead of black, a sensation one character compares to "swimming in milk." Once they're rounded up by soldiers and quarantined in a grubby, abandoned mental asylum, their worst primal instincts emerge: urination and defecation in the hallways, theft, assaults and, ultimately, rape.

The physical and moral deterioration calls to mind the situation in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, but director Fernando Meirelles, in adapting a novel by Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago, is clearly trying to suggest that society similarly could collapse anywhere, anytime. Rather than being thought-provoking, though, the whole dreary exercise feels like an overlong beat-down - as if we're being scolded just for showing up.

The director relies too heavily on obvious symbolism, such as glass reflections and various shades of white in the form of blazing sunlight or bright floor tiles. He even floods the screen with white at times, as if to make us feel what the characters are experiencing in Don McKellar's script. If we share any emotion with these people, it's a yearning to get up and go home.

Even Julianne Moore can't liven up this slog, despite a typically strong performance as the one person who can still see - a phenomenon which is never explained, probably because it's an arbitrary plot device. She pretends she's blind, though, to stay with her husband (Mark Ruffalo), who is an eye doctor. This means she can help navigate the chaos, but only to a certain extent; she's also forced to witness it without revealing her secret and, therefore, risking her life.

The laughably upbeat way in which "Blindness" ends only reinforces what a waste of time it was.

R (violence including sexual assaults, profanity, sexuality and nudity); 112 minutes

APPALOOSA **

Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are both on the right side of the law in "Appaloosa," but the chemistry they shared as adversaries in 2005's "A History of Violence" remains.

Good thing, too. Aside from some striking scenery, their comfortable dynamic is just about all that makes "Appaloosa" worth watching.

Harris, as director, producer, co-writer and star, has come up with an old-school Western that feels hokey and boringly episodic. And for a movie that takes place when folks were heading West with bold dreams, "Appaloosa" never really goes anywhere.

The film finds Harris' Virgil Cole taking over the lawless New Mexico town of Appaloosa as marshal in 1882. By his side is his deputy, Everett Hitch (Mortensen), who travels with him from place to place, keeping the peace.

Their routine consists of showing up and laying down the law, then kicking back and laconically trading one-liners. But their reverie is disrupted by a couple of forces.

One is the villainous rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), whose murder of the last marshal led to Cole's hiring. Irons is supposed to be the most fearsome figure in the film. But his accent is so thick and hammy, it takes you completely out of the movie every time he opens his mouth.

Then there's flirty widow Allison French (Renee Zellweger) - a pianist with proper manners and fine dresses - she's obviously not from 'round these parts. But who she is never becomes truly clear.

If "Appaloosa" had focused more on the friendship between Cole and Hitch, it would have been far more engaging.

R (some violence and profanity); 115 minutes

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT