***
DVD Release
This deeply disturbing story of
an Alaskan serial killer who systematically kidnapped, raped and then murdered
vulnerable young women is based on real life events. Throughout the 1970s and
80s, Robert Hansen killed multiple young women, whilst remaining a respected
member of the community. In 1983, one of his would-be victims, Cindy Paulson,
managed to escape – this film is the story of how she helped Alaskan State
Trooper Jack Halcombe get justice for the young women killed.
First of all, you should not
dismiss this film on the basis of Nicholas Cage being in the lead role. Cage
plays Jack Halcombe, a man who is reluctantly assigned the case of Cindy Paulson,
and he plays it very well – there are no wide-eyed, over-the-top rampages as
seen in that most infamous of YouTube videos; he is delightfully understated.
Even in the interrogation scenes, he does not lose his cool and, best of all,
he has a very touching relationship with Cindy Paulson, the young woman who
managed to escape the clutches of death. Vanessa Hudgens is Cindy, and her
performance is rather remarkable – who would have thought that the immaculate beauty
and love interest from the harmless ‘High School Musical’ trilogy could ‘grunge-up’
so effectively. Here, Hudgens is seen smoking, snorting cocaine, puffing on
some crystal meth, as well as swinging around a pole in her underwear. She is
also an underage prostitute, but Hudgens takes it all in her stride and is
wholly believable. She has a very good on screen relationship with Cage, who becomes
a surrogate father to her. I’ll admit – when I saw that Cage and Hudgens were
heading the cast list in a drama such as this, I was sceptical, but they do
well. John Cusack plays (and this is not a spoiler) serial killer Robert
Hansen, and is an extremely chilling screen presence. Everyone knows that he is
the killer, but the manner in which he writhes and wriggles under the watchful
eyes of the law is truly disconcerting.
Despite the performances,
however, director Scott Walker fails to add anything new to the genre – there are
all the expected twists and turns, and the usual narrative tropes, like the
desperate search for the evidence. There are some fairly tense bits, but we
know what will eventually happen, or else the film wouldn’t have been made. It
isn’t a bad film at all, and the whole premise greatly disturbing, but I felt
that I wanted something more original. Of course, this is based on real events
so too much fabrication would be disrespectful to the women killed, so I can
see why Walker kept the narrative basic.
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