Something that looks like a 'film', specifically this term and the aesthetic to which it implies, I feel has come to be expected of contemporary dramas/character studies. Mojave knows it. It looks to tick a lot of these archetypal boxes: jaded, frustrated characters, blatant motifs (the temptation of Christ?), a redemptive narrative, an undertone of despair that never loosens up until the end of the last arc. Yes with all these elements motivating it's narrative, the movie never achieves a sense of coherency; it's Hitchcockian one moment with it's intermittent key score, and then Fincher-esque the next with it's sweeping pans and use of negative space in shots. It's an actor's playground that, as charming and talented as all the individuals are, doesn't leave a lot for the audience to soak in, unless you really, really like angry, shout-y Mark Wahlberg, who is playing quite possibly the closest characterisation to his real life personality in this role. I never fully understood the goal of the protagonist... I guess it had something to do with doing the right thing and his daughter? Too much Tyler Durton syndrome in concepts like these I feel.
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guidegoldblatt10 August 2018In no way is this a great movie, but it kept me engaged to the end. Would I watch it again? Absolutely not, but it did have a few redeeming qualities. Specifically: 1) First and foremost, I thought Oscar Isaac was excellent in it. He is clearly the star of the movie and had all of the best lines (Not that there were many of them). 2) There was a bit of suspense in the cat and mouse game between Hedlund and Isaac. 3) I wanted to know how it would turn out and the ending was slightly different than what I expected.
The cons: 1) Hedlund's character is a real jerk and you can't stand him. Almost made me root for Isaac's character. 2) You never really understand why Hedlund's character is so unhappy and such a jerk. 3) The pace moves very slowly at times. 4) Nothing particularly innovative or creative about the script. -
zetes19 June 2016Poor thriller reuniting Garrett Hedlund and Oscar Isaac a few years after they drove to Chicago together with John Goodman in Inside Llewyn Davis. Both are more or less on equal footing here, though. Hedlund plays a screenwriter who goes out to the Mojave to commit suicide. Instead, he meets up with dangerous drifter Isaac who pops into camp obviously just to kill him. Instinctively he resists death, but in the process angers the drifter. When Hedlund returns to civilization, Isaac follows him, hoping to continue their game of death. Not much about this works. Hedlund is a boring actor, and Isaac gives his worst performance ever, at least since he's been a star. You'd think the script must have looked great on paper, but the dialogue comes off as silly and desperately trying to be cool. Walton Goggins and Mark Wahlberg also waste their time in this. It does look good, and it has a few good moments, but, in general, it's just bad.
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krocheav29 November 2016There are some writers who seem to think if they quote Shakespeare and Herman Melville within their own work, they might automatically be regarded as possessing a higher level of intellect - not so, and Mojave offers a reasonable example as proof. Here we have writer/director William Monahan (The Departed) doing just this in a rather lame attempt to dress up his lowly 'character' study about a suicidal 'artist' (why suicidal? because he has success and luxury laid on, a loving wife and delightful young daughter who idolizes him) I ask, what better reason could you have for wanting to commit suicide?. Borrowing a leaf from the Travers character in Paris Texas our 'artist' wanders into tho desert to explore how many ways he can kill himself. Failing at several, he appears to settle on drinking himself to death.
While still in the desert he meets another equally disturbed fellow who is obviously quite happy to do him in. Instead of excepting the offer, our suicide contender suddenly decides he won't allow this and begins looking at ways of murdering this chap - another perfectly reasonable idea! The ensuing cat and mouse game goes on interminably, with each man sprouting endless expletives & pseudo-psycho-babble as they attempt to kill each other...as well as any innocent by-standers who just happen to get in their way.
All this might sound most interesting to those who enjoy Tarantino type nonsense but, any thinking viewer might beware. Is there anything that's good in all this?. The desert is well photographed, Oscar Isaac and Garrett Hedlund are occasionally OK in the leads and some bits of the score music by UK born Andrew Hewitt are quite interesting. As for the supporting cast, Walton Goggins' character is so bad it's laughable, as is Mark Walberg's foul mouthed sex obsessed producer.
Cultists may enjoy the over-the-top foolishness but this is supposed to be a dramatic modern classic!. Next thing to down right awful nastiness. -
Rendanlovell17 March 2016'Mojave' is the brain child from the writer of 'The Departed'. Add in a slew of great actors and the result is me, with high hopes for this movie. But within the first few minutes those hopes were drastically lowered. This is mainly due to the all around aimlessness of the story. Garrett Hedlund wanders into the desert and meets the hick version of Oscar Isaac. Than Hudlund inexplicably bludgeons Isaac and frames him for the murder of a police officer. So, Isaac follows Hedlund back to LA in hopes of exacting of his revenge. All of this roughly taking place with in the first ten or twenty minutes of the film. Now we have our story. What I liked most about 'Mojave' is the scenes that Isaac and Hedlund share. While there may only be two or three of them, I found them to be the best parts of the movie. Both sociopaths, it was interesting and sometimes rather funny to watch these two go back and forth.
The only other aspect worth mentioning is the music. In this otherwise uninspired film, the music really helped capture the mood of each scene. Whether or not the scene actually has the desired affect on you is beside the point. Even though, more times than not, the music is really the only thing that helps move scenes forward.
Other than these few things there really isn't much that 'Mojave' offers. The performances are passable but almost every actor in the film feels miscast. All of them seem to over or under act in a strange attempt to give these flat characters meaning. And boy most of these characters are two dimensional.
They worst offenders come in the form of Mark Wahlberg and Walton Goggins. These two come into the film as nothing more than vessels for director William Monahan to force in his own opinions. There is nothing more to them than that. They come into the film, spit their "political commentary", and leave as quickly as they came.
As you watch this, it's impossible not to think, "Wow, what the heck was that about?". Not to mention the incredibly in your face social commentary. I understand that many of us are hopelessly addicted to our phones but do you have to pretend like EVERYONE is? And, do you seriously have to show this in every single scene??
The worst part is, they don't just talk about it. There is one scene in particular where a character exits a bar and passes a line of people. ALL of which are on their phone, and to make things even less subtle the film feels the need to add phone clicks and buzzes. This is not a film that children are going to see so do you have to make it this obvious?
I'm pretty sure that I do actually have a brain and I can pick up on subtly. So why ram it down my throat with next to no subtly? Aside from the two or three scenes that Isaac and Hedlund share this is all the film does for its hour and a half run time. Use uncomfortably pretentious celebrity cameos to drive home the films own misguided views of the world. While it does do some things right I can't say that this is worth recommending. This overall standardness is enough to send 'Mojave' spiraling into obscurity. -
movieswithgreg8 August 2020This neo-noir should have been better. It could easily have culled an 8 from me. But the writing did not deliver. It's almost as if the writer-director lost a bet, and had to pull out the plot points that meant the difference between this being a good film people would talk about, vs something no one's heard of. Which is a shame, because the writer-director is one of hollywood's most lauded writers going.
I'm soft for desert movies. This one starts out well. Then it moved to L.A. and fast lost its momentum, its pacing, and sill in plotting. And Mark Wahlberg's part? Just filler. Same with Goggins. Literally nothing more than someone for the protagonist to speak to so we don't have to use thought bubbles. In fact, most of the other actors that have talking don't need them, because they don't go anywhere in the story.
If you're watching this in hopes of a twist, then don't bother. There is none.
Otherwise, there's oddly inserted literary references that would only come from a director who was also a writer. Shakespeare, Melville, don't add to the story. They barely even fulfill the purpose of making this story feel more philosophical.
A screenwriter who submitted this script would have been rejected if he was new. Something this flawed could only get greenlit if the writer was already A-list, as this writer was. It violates one of the so called "rules" of scriptwriting -- that every scene, every act, every word, has some role in moving the story forward. This one had too many that didn't.
It's an ages-old conceit that experienced hollywood filmmakers like to make films about hollywood that reveal its meaninglessness, its shallowness, its callous narcissism. This one does all that. Complete with asskissing personal assistants or bedraggled personal assistants. PAs are the lifeblood of the industry, but are rarely depicted in compelling ways. This film is no exception. But not in an instructive nor satisfying way.
Films are too expensive to make merely to make a statement that the film biz doesn't matter. But this one sure works hard at it. -
ferguson-621 January 2016Greetings again from the darkness. The isolation of the desert seems the perfect place for an artist to achieve the existential awakening necessary during a time of personal doubt and crisis. The journey to find one's true self becomes much more complicated when the one-man desert getaway is interrupted by heavy boozing, self-destructive tendencies, and a serial-killer sociopath. Such is the case with writer/director William Monahan's (Oscar winner for his screenplay of The Departed) latest film.
Garrett Hedlund plays Thomas, a very successful filmmaker, who seems to take no joy from his life of luxury a mansion in the hills, cool cars, a wife and daughter, and endless adulation. Sporting the ultra-cool celebrity look of sunglasses and long hair, Thomas heads off into the desert to either clear his mind or end his life. We aren't really sure which, and neither is he. Lots of Vodka and reckless Jeep driving leave Thomas in a showdown of wits and machismo across a campfire from a sinister yet articulate drifter.
The drifter is Jack, played by Oscar Isaac, and it's no surprise when we learn he is a serial killer the sociopath part we figured out quickly, right along with Thomas. Their under-the-stars confrontation leads to a tragic accident the next day, and pits these two in a B-movie game of cat and mouse with a tone that reminds a bit of Cape Fear (1991) and U-Turn (1997).
Heading back to L.A., Thomas comes up with an incredibly stupid plan to cover his tracks. Being famous "since I was 19 years old" and having financial success with movies hasn't trained Thomas on facing off against a clever nemesis. Even his discussion with his manager (played by an unusually low-key Walton Goggins) comes across as literary-speak rather than real advice. "Worry about what seems to be" is the advice Thomas rolls with.
Monahan fills the screen with tough-guy dialogue for these two characters that are both simultaneously stupid and smart. Jack and Thomas go at each like a couple of intellects, but it's the class warfare that stands out. The 99% versus the 1%. The message seems to be that it comes down to circumstance on whether one is an artist or a psychotic felon and the line separating the two is pretty slim. It's also not a very well disguised ripping of the film industry especially of producers. Mark Wahlberg chews some scenery as a d-bag movie producer who talks loud and fast while accomplishing little. It's a pretty funny turn for Wahlberg, though unfortunately his character spends limited time on screen. Louise Bourgoin has a couple of scenes, and quickly proves more would have been welcome.
The film may not be much to look at, and doesn't really make much sense, but some of the dialogue duels and "brother" banter, manage to keep us interested throughout. "Take a left. Take a right." It doesn't much matter with these two well-read adversaries from opposite sides of the tracks. -
wildsparrow1631 January 2016Let's take two emotionally unstable alpha males (one of them a psychopath), and have them cross paths leading to a confrontation and tragedy in the desert - and you have quite an intriguing yarn. My main criticism would be that the protagonist was not that likable a character. He was dissatisfied with his glamorous life and rather unkind to most of the people he encountered in the film. I get that there were issues with his wife and child, however, this gets only a brief mention in the movie. Perhaps it should be have been built upon more to make him a more sympathetic character. Yes, rich people have problems, too - we just weren't entirely sure what his were. BUT - he played his role very well and I did enjoy the movie. Kudos to both actors for their performances. It was suspenseful and fairly quick-paced.
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leonblackwood23 May 2016Review: I really had high hopes for this movie but it seemed to come and go really quickly and the ending was really disappointing. I was expecting a massive showdown between Thomas (Garrett Hedlund) and Jack (Oscar Isaac), who cross paths in the Mojave desert and become enemies after Jack, a penniless drifter, finds out about Thomas's wealth. Jack then follows Thomas to torment him, after an unfortunate incident that happened in the desert, which also puts Thomas's close friends and loved one in danger. Personally, i thought that the whole project lacked depth and it just seems like Thomas was in a world of his own most of the time. Oscar and Wahlberg were the best thing in the movie because they put some effort into there characters but apart from that, the storyline was weak and it would have made more sense if Thomas would have just come clean about the whole mistake that happened in the desert. Wahlberg (Norman) did make me laugh but he was only in a couple of scenes, which was a shame. Basically, this movie was a big let down and it was a waste of a good cast. Disappointing!
Round-Up: Garrett Hedlund, 31, also worked alongside Mark Wahlberg in Four Brothers, and he also starred in Inside Llewyn Davis with Oscar Isaac, so there was a sense of chemistry between the characters but it was the script that let it down. He first came on the scene in 2004 in Troy and he's taken the lead in big movies like Tron: Legacy, Eragon and Pan but it will take some time before he becomes a household name. Anyway, this movie was written and directed by William Monahan, 55, who also brought you London Boulevard starring Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and Ray Winstone. The whole project seemed a bit rushed and not thought through properly, in my opinion but on the plus side, the Mojave backdrop did look authentic but that's about it.
I recommend this movie to people who are into their thrillers starring Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund, Louise Bourgoin, Walton Goggins, Mark Wahlberg and Tim Soergel. 3/10 -
jtncsmistad16 June 2019Garrett Hedlund is a Hollywood rebel who did a bad, bad thing in the midst of a meltdown in the Mojave desert. Oscar Isaac is an unhinged drifter who saw him to it. And he's not about to let him forget it.
The two actors are superb in a salacious and sinister fight to the finish, with the delirious driving dilemma being whose? -
cosmo_tiger11 March 2016"This started in the desert and it's gonna end there. You understand? This has to play out." Thomas (Hedlund) has headed out to the desert in hopes to find himself or at least meaning to his life. When Jack (Isaac) shows up Thomas thinks something is a little off. After Jack's intentions are shown it becomes a game of cat and mouse, that doesn't end when they leave the desert. This is not a bad movie and does have it's moments, the problem is that it is just not that memorable. There is some tenseness and excitement to this and the acting is very well done but there is just something missing. I don't mean to sound so harsh toward this movie, but I watched it 2 days ago and can't actually remember enough about it for this review. That has never happened to me before. Overall, not bad, but nothing that will stick with you. This could have been better. I give this a C+.
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85122211 September 2016Greetings from Lithuania.
"Mojave" (2015) is definitely not a thriller for a mainstream audiences. Although it was very involving, superbly acted by both leads and especially by always terrific Oscar Isaac as well as superbly and not typically written, i found to my surprise that this movie has such a negative buzz. Why? It was very simple yet fascinatingly told story, not a typical one. It also shows this dark side of Hollywood, where having all you ever wanted can be a nightmare, because there isn't what to reach for more.
Overall, "Mojave" isn't a typical thriller, although it is intense and highly involving one. Acting was terrific and writing superb. Surelly as it seem this movie is not for everyone, although this one is a real gem. -
Mojave follows a depressed/possibly suicidal artist who goes to the desert and encounters a homicidal drifter. I had heard nothing but terrible things about this film, and anticipated it to be my first "bad" film of 2016. Nevertheless, while very flawed and lacking a true protagonist, Mojave is a self-awarely pretentious physcological thriller featuring another fantastic performance from Oscar Isaac.
What this film ultimately boils down to is a battle of wits between Oscar Isaac and Garrett Hudland's characters. Hudland is good for what he is given, but his character isn't given much depth to work with, and you just have to take small drops of knowledge you learn about him to piece together who he is as a character. His role is similar to most characters he typically plays, and he plays the part well.
Oscar Isaac continues his streak of greatness, having fun in a role similar to what he did in Ex Machina. He gets to show off his funny and darker side, and is very convincing in his role. Isaac's presence is felt throughout the film, even when he is not on screen. Truly an underrated performance by an actor who is taking over Hollywood.
William Monahan wrote and directed this film, and he earned an Academy Award for penning The Departed. Monahan crafts a very fascinating script with Mojave. It's pretentious, but it knows it's pretentious, and uses that as a tool for its characters to go back and forth at one another with. I definitely get what he was going for, and I dug most of it. Some fascists are very underwritten however, and while attempting to balance two tones, the film gets lost in itself from time to time.
Overall, Mojave is a deeply flawed film, but a bold, knowledgeably pretentious one, that includes some good thrills. Isaac is phenomenal yet again, having a blast in his role and leaving a lasting impression on the film as a whole. It won't be winning any awards, and most viewers will be turned off by it, but Mojave is a fascinating thriller, and one I recommend if you go in with the right expectations. -
beigefoot7622 December 2019I can deal with the narcissism and self-absorption of a writer if a given work is brewed with 3-dimensional characters and a clever, interesting plot. But what we get with William Monohan's script is a juvenile, wet dream-inspired cliche of contrived cynicism and faux-pontification about material success and loneliness. The characters may as well have been lifted from a high-schooler's writing course. I wanted them ALL to die. Horribly. Oscar Isaac's character could have provided some touch of wisdom to this derived narrative, but Monohan was too preoccupied with appearing cool, aloof, and autodidactically intellectual. Every 19 year old boy (and some girls, I'm sure) have written characters like this. We can't help it, even though we know it's bad.
The problem is that Hollywood keeps indulging that urge. I could say that Monohan knows how to do better than this, but given how Hollywood tends to work, It's hard to divine whether it was actually HIS contributions to 'The Departed' that made it good, or some uncredited writer.
Movies as bad as this do serve a function--they're good examples of what NOT to do. -
surfingthebigwave19 April 2017Richard Roeper gave it 4/4. I give it 2/5. It was a cool premise that went nowhere really fast. Acting was good. Story was meh.I only wish it had a lot more going for it.
It was like showing up to a BBQ but only being served salad. Definitely not recommending. -
natashadh14 March 2019Take a shot every time the word "brother" is said. Guaranteed hospital or morgue is in your future.
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becky-923465 August 2022Mojave (2015) follows a man who goes into the desert only to find his doppelgänger, a homicidal drifter. This film had a lot of potential, with an intriguing premise and a decent story, but ultimately it just wasn't executed well enough. It was a very hard film to pay attention to and Oscar Isaac carried it! I'm still unsure as to why it was mainly advertised as a doppelgänger movie.
Firstly, Oscar Isaac really carried this film. He was very mysterious and I'd have loved to know more about the character of Jack. The two leads had chemistry too which was good, and the dialogue was sometimes intriguing! I found myself rooting for Jack, which I don't think was the aim, however I liked that there was no clear 'good character' per say.
Unfortunately, there wasn't really any interesting cinematography to talk about, but at least it was well lit and clear. I did like some of the framing choices also.
The lack of score wasn't effective for this film, as it was too bland and basic. The sound design didn't have much to it as well, which is a shame because this resulted in the film having little to know tension or atmosphere built up.
The writing for the film was fairly poor and not engaging, like most elements in the movie, it just felt so dull. The writing bordered into being quite cheesy actually which was a shame, as I could tell the film tried to set a serious tone. There were parts that made me believe the filmmakers were going for something like No Country For Old Men (2006), but I found it to be less effective.
The movie was pretty confusing and odd, and set a weird tone. It didn't feel like it was going for a slowburn, and if it was, it wasn't successful or engaging enough. The pacing was messy, the tension wasn't high and it rushed into the plot too quickly which really made it lack substance. -
LeonLouisRicci28 April 2016This one has all the Trappings of a Neat Neo-Noir. An Independent Production, an Oscar Winning Screenwriter (who here takes on Directing), and an Actor named Oscar who is a Hot-Ticket these Days.
But the Film is as Dry as the Desert and is only Occasionally Interesting trying to keep up with all of the Literary References and Wordy Wordplay and to maybe, just maybe, figure out who is the Smartest, the Protagonist or the Antagonist.
Other than that, the Story is so Ambiguous and Vague it Muddles the Movie as the Backstory is Nothing and goes Nowhere. A couple of Recognizable Faces show up and face the fact that all of the Energy is Elsewhere.
Mainly, the Battle of Wits between Overwritten Leads that Jaw Endlessly about Existential Experiences and Unexplained Occurrences in Their Lives, and what it All Means, or is there Meaninglessness in Everything. Whew!
Garrett Hedlund is the "Good Guy", or is He? "Have you figured out who is the bad guy here?", is one of the Ponders in the Ponderous and Pretentious Dialog.
Overall, Worth a Watch with Low Expectations and a Willingness to keep Frosty and wonder where and when the Next Philosophical Musing will Lead. Hint...... "When you get what you want...What do you want?" -
clintstevens30 July 2018I have come to the realization that Netflix is one of the few companies that can offer inferior product to the public, and the public eats it up.
The story here is fairly interesting, but the script is horrendous. A sampling;
"Where are you from? Where are you going? Who are you?"
"No one in particular."
"Anybody in general?"
"That's the crux of it, brother."
"You're not a talker. I like that."
That is basically how the dialog goes through the entire film. The one plus is, the dialog makes for a great drinking game. Take a shot every time the word 'brother' is spoken...you'll be passed out before the halfway point, which is probably a good thing.
Another gem of dialog; "When you get what you want, what do you want?"
What I wanted was this movie to end.
One question: Mark Wahlberg? Really? Did he lose a bet?
All in all, an atrocious movie...brother. -
matteveland9510 September 2018An interesting film that leaves you in question for the entire length of it. The two main characters drive the story onward, allowing it to develop and thrive, while the secondary characters play no role other than dialogue diversity. The main men compliment and contrast each other quite well, with power and confidence that can only be blurred by one another. The film will blatantly address your own reservations about who you are rooting for, about who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. "To be or not to be, Brother.."
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titanslife_64 November 2019This may sound childish, but what made this movie unwatchable was the dialogue and the constant "brother" usuage. Omg it was so irritating!! Good idea for a flick but the script was just utterly terrible
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Interesting story. enjoyed it enough. Nice surprise on a rainy sunday
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Bryan_Roderick1 May 2016Mojave
Mojave is directed and written by William Monahan about a suicidal famous guy who goes to the desert to contemplate reality where he finds a psychopathic drifter with a bleak outlook on human life. I could see why the production company didn't want this movie to be pushed towards the lime-light. Hear me out though: the film is entertaining.
Each character feels fleshed out, interesting, some are more relate- able than others but you can still understand how and why they act that way. The direction was a bit too artsy even for me, but still held my attention and had good variability with the shots he took. The score in this movie was also great.
Tom, played by Garrett Hedlund, who you might recognize from Tron Legacy, or Unbroken, did a wonderful job portraying a bored artist with more money than you could count in a lifetime feeling like he should end it all. He's an unlikable character, and makes you root for the villain almost. I gotta say I liked the fact that I disliked the main character. It's not something I usually find myself doing.
Jack, played by Oscar Isaac was wonderful and weird at the same time. He wasn't charming and anti-social like he was in Ex Machina, or Nonchalant like he was in Star Wars VII. He was vindictive, methodical, and deeply flawed. All he wanted was a good friend to share a campfire with...kinda. The only negative things I could say about his performance was that I kept getting a Beetlejuice vibe from him.
William Monahan did a great job writing the characters and screenplay. That being said there are lots of long silent scenes that needed dialogue. If Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino are the kings of dialogue then William Monahan and Denis Villeneuve are kings of silence. Everyone knows Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino, but few will remember William and Denis, and that's a shame. I say that because there's some skill there to keep people entertained through silence.
This is the third time I've seen William Monahan and Mark Wahlberg work together. If I had to rank them from Best to Worst, it would be The Departed, Mojave, then The Gambler. Mark plays Norman the likable butt-puppet who complains that he's the only hard working person in Hollywood. Typical yet awesome type-casting for Mark Wahlberg. If it becomes too old a shtick like Vince Vaughn is in all of his movies I'll make sure to change my view.
Verdict: Worth a watch, can't be doing something else while you're watching the film or else you're gonna miss a ton of non-verbal cues. Free on Amazon Prime. -
cynicsick4 August 2016What a mess. I'm not gonna pick the movie apart because it would take too long. My problem is with the 2 main characters. The hero and the bad guy, both were portrayed to be certified "bad asses". How did they get to be so good with guns, has like a built in human tracking device in the head, cunning, intelligent, like trained cia operatives whatnot you name it.
I have to mention this, so the sad hero goes into the desert drunk as sh** steals a rifle from a wandering bum after having a philosophical conversation because fk you, no time to explain, right? This bum happens to be some sort of serial killer. So the sad drunk hero goes into a cave to sleep, was awoken by something, I don't know fk you. Takes a split second to aim like 10 meters away and blam right on the money.
How did the 2 main characters become so bad ass and can do remarkable things? We don't. They did not give in the important details. But what they did show us is that the suicidal protagonist is actually rich and famous. After the desert scene. What is he famous for? making film and sh**? How did he get to be that knowledgeable and stuff? We just don't fking know man.
Then the bad guy, a washed up bum. Wow really? Well how the hell did he...Hold up! let me stop you there, we wont/don't fking know.
Lol and the side characters (Matt Damon and the guy from The Shield) Both bad asses that smoke and drink all day But is more built that regular gym rats.
One thing I know is that I did not enjoy the mess. But If you dare to watch it, you wouldn't know some things as well, ya know? -
eddie_baggins12 July 2016Random is a term that gets bandied about quite a bit in this day and age but it's certainly the perfect word to describe The Departed and Kingdom of Heaven scribe William Monahan's second directional effort Mojave, a film that feels lost in its own self-worth and finds itself wondering along aimlessly through its 90 minute runtime to a conclusion that neither justifies or explains why we've been mistreated to this wannabe exposition of fame, internal demons and hamming it up Mark Wahlberg's.
It's particularly random that Monaghan convinced one of the industry's current brightest stars in the form of Oscar Isaac to appear in this deranged cautionary tale and after a string of memorable films in the likes of A Most Violent Year and the excellent Ex_Machina, this is Isaacs first outright failure in sometime even though he certainly gives it his all as the menacing drifter Jack who haunts Garrett Hedlund's lead Tom from the dry plains to the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles.
There was clearly hope here that Monahan could hide the implausibility's of his story that never delivers a realistic blow behind the one/two team up of Isaac and Hedlund going head to head and saying "brother" far too often but with Isaac relegated to a few brief moments of genuine menace and intrigue Hedlund's Hollywood big shot is a hard protagonist to get on board with and it's another lacking turn from the young actor that showed such great promise in early ventures like Friday Night Lights and Troy.
The problem found within this central battle of Mojave isn't its only huge hurdle as the film also suffers from an identity crisis not unlike the one Hedlund's Tom is suffering within the narrative. Is the film a sombre examination of tormented artists? A dark comedy skewering the Hollywood lifestyle? There questions Monahan and his team no doubt pondered but didn't have the skill set to answer and the films blurred vision is something that will deter many a viewer from enjoying what's laid before them.
An extremely disappointing experience that wastes the considerable talents of Isaac in a try hard plot that wants to say a lot and ends up saying nothing, Mojave is an utterly forgettable film that no one deserves to be put through and a career low point for the usually trustworthy Monahan.
1 "brother" out of 5