Movie Review: Dead Man (Johnny Depp 1995)

Jun 30, 2008 12:06

I found this movie by chance, in a bargain bin when I was shopping a week or so back, and bought it because 1. I had never heard of it, and 2. I am compiling a collection of every movie Johnny Depp has ever starred in.

Synopsis:

Dead man is a story of a young man's journey, both physically and spritually, into very unfamiliar terrain. William Blake (Depp) travels to the extreme western frontiers of America sometime in the second half of the 19th century. Lost and badly wounded, he encounters a very odd, outcast native American, named "Nobody," who believes Blake is actually the dead English Poet of the same name. The story, with Nobody's help, leads William Blake through situations that are in turn comical and violent. Contrary to his nature, circumstances transform Blake into a hunted outlaw, a killer, and a man whose physical existence is slowly slipping away. Thrown into a world that is cruel and chaotic, his eyes are opened to the fragility that defines the realm of the living. it is as though he passes through the surface of a mirror, and emerges into a previously-unknown world that exists on the other side.

My View:



Johnny Depp as William Blake

This movie does everything that the synopsis says it does and I can't fault it on that. There are moments of stark violence which are contrasted and relieved by moments of hysterical hilarity. Perhaps that's what made it difficult for me to respond positively to it. It couldn't seem to decide whether it was a serious western or a western comedy and I found that jarring.

As a coming of age story, this lives up to the genre and I was satisfied that it did what it set out to do in having Blake grow from a naive and trusting view of the world to one which is more realistic and mature.

I loved "Nobody." (Gary Farmer) He provided most of the comic relief in the film with his insistence that Blake was the poet he admired, and his repeated attempts to get Blake to remember and recite his poetry were hilarious.



William Blake and "Nobody"

This is a violent film, and while I am not averse to violence, I have to admit that some of the scenes depicted edged on my "squick" level.

Johnny Depp seemed uncomfortable in this role and didn't carry it off with the aplomb I've come to associate with his work.

The bounty hunters (Lance Henrickson,  Michael Wincott and Eugene Byrd), set on Blake's trail tried hard to be funny but really just turned my stomach and their 'dark humor' was lost on me, drowned out by their needlessly violent (read cannibalisitic)attitudes.

Iggy Pop has a ball playing a cross dressing fur clad psycopath who gets into a gunfight with a compadre over who will "have" William Blake when he and Nobody stop to ask for food along the trail. (these guys were funny, but made me ask "What is it with the psycopathic gay guys?")

The film is shot entirely in black and white which also detracted from its appeal for me, but all in all, it is a keeper and I might watch it again some time.

Over all ***
A fun and interesting watch if nothing else is on TV.

iggy pop, westerns, dead man, johnny depp, gary farmer

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