LEGENDS OF THE SILVER SCREEN: CHRISTIAN SLATER
Ever since I rented Heathers for the first time as a teenager, Christian Slater has been my boy. Throughout the years, Slater has starred in some classics like Pump Up the Volume, True Romance, and 3000 Miles to Graceland. Recently, he’s been carving out a nice niche for himself in the DTV market, while still finding time to star in TV shows (like Breaking In) and the occasional theatrical film (like the upcoming Bullet to the Head). Today we’ll take a look at a slate of solidly entertaining Slater flicks.
First up is…
TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE (1990) ***
The Tales from the Darkside TV show was EXTREMELY spotty. Okay, it mostly sucked. The movie version however is quite a lot of fun. Most anthology horror movies are hampered by inconsistency. This is the rare anthology horror flick in which all three stories (as well as the wraparound segments) offer the viewer about the same level of quality.
The first story is “Lot 249”, inspired by a story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s all about a mummy attacking some college students. It’s the most straightforward of the three stories, but it also happens to be the most fun. Director John Harrison films the stalking scenes in a lively fashion and the kills are solid. (Coat hanger up the nose, brains in a fruit bowl, scissors to the back, etc.) And the whole thing ends with a great dismemberment by an electric carving knife. The most fun though comes from seeing rising stars Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore in supporting roles. Christian Slater is quite good in the lead too. He gives a snarky yet sympathetic performance and he looks like he’s having a blast.
Next up is “Cat from Hell”, based on a story by Stephen King (with a screenplay by George Romero). This segment revolves around a millionaire (William Hickey) hiring a hitman (David Johansen) to assassinate his cat. Things start out kinda hokey and it probably has too many flashbacks, but the strong ending, show-stopping special effects, and a great performance by Johansen as the hitman make this segment a real treat.
The final story, “Lover’s Vow” is a modern day riff on Kwaidan. An artist (James Remar) sees a monster who makes him swear to keep its existence a secret. He falls in love with Rae Dawn Chong and starts a family, but fails to keep his big mouth shut. It’s obvious where the story is headed for the get-go, but like Cat from Hell, it has some great special effects. Plus, it’s pretty awesome to see James Remar in an atypical romantic leading man role.
And the wraparound scenes are fun too. They feature Debbie Harry as a cannibal who locks a kid up and tries to cook him. While waiting for the oven to warm up, the kid tells her the stories to buy himself some time to plan his escape.
Released in some regions as Creepshow 3, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie stacks up well against the anthology horror films of the era. (It’s definitely better than Creepshow 2.) It’s a bit tame and has some slow spots, but the effects and performances keep you watching. And besides, any horror anthology that features the lead singers of Blondie and The New York Dolls is pretty kick ass if you ask me.
Harrison went on to direct the TV version of Dune.
AKA: Creepshow 3.
Our next slice of Slater cinema is…
YOUNG GUNS 2 (1990) ***
Most PG-13 sequels to R rated movies suck. Young Guns 2 bucks that trend. In fact, I actually like it better than the original. I think you have to give the credit to director Geoff Murphy. He really manages to give the character of Billy the Kid the mythic treatment he deserves. He later went on to direct another sequel that was better than the original, Under Siege 2. (Murphy also directed the atrocious Fortress 2, but forget I even brought that up.)
Emilio Estevez yet again plays Billy the Kid. This time he’s out to ride the range one last time with his faithful friends Doc (Kiefer Sutherland), Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), and Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh (Christian Slater). But Billy’s former ally-turned-mortal-enemy Pat Garrett (William L. Petersen) wants to make a name for himself and sets out to bring the gang to justice.
Estevez, Sutherland, and Phillips are all really good, but it’s Slater who steals the movie as Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh. He gives Estevez a run for his money in the Cocky Cowboy department. (There’s a scene where he rides a horse through a storefront window that’s positively badass.) This was when Slater was still in his Knockoff Nicholson Phase. so his raspy delivery is pretty kickass. Seriously, nobody can say the words, “Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh” the way Slater can. (Well, except of course, Jack Nicholson.)
The supporting cast is solid too. I thought it was pretty cool that Petersen almost plays Pat Garrett like a Wild West version of Will Graham. (The role of Garrett had been previously played by Patrick Wayne in the original film.) A young Viggo Mortensen has a small role as a member of Garrett’s posse and Jenny (Near Dark) Wright and porn star Ginger Lynn also appear as hookers.
Young Guns 2 is breezy entertainment. You kinda wish there was a bit more dramatic weight to it especially considering that (SPOILER) just about everybody dies, but oh well. I will say that Chavez’s “Spirit Horse” scene is fucking hilarious.
Slater gets the best line of the movie when he says, “I’ve killed 65 men, not counting Mexicans and Indians!”
And our final Slater film is…
WINDTALKERS (2002) ***
Windtalkers was a big reunion movie for director John Woo. Not only did it reteam him with Face/Off star Nicolas Cage, but it gave him another opportunity to work with Broken Arrow’s Christian Slater. Well, this flick is definitely no Face/Off (or Broken Arrow for that matter), but it’s a solid WWII movie through and through.
During the War in the Pacific, America used Native Americans to send coded messages from the front lines. The Japanese never managed to decipher the Native American language. That was partly because the American soldiers had orders to kill the so-called “Windtalkers” if they were ever captured. Cage and Slater’s characters eventually grow to like their Windtalking counterparts and they have to ask themselves if they’re really prepared to kill their fellow soldiers.
But the movie’s less concerned about moral dilemmas and more about shit blowing up real good.
The war scenes in this movie are pretty damn intense as the scenes of battlefield carnage are downright epic. People get blown up, set on fire, trapped in barb wire, trampled, and mercilessly gunned down. John Woo, the man who turned violence into a thing of beauty with The Killer seems intent on making war as ugly as possible. It’s almost like he was trying to out-Saving Private Ryan Saving Private Ryan.
Cage and Slater make for a rather dynamic duo. There’s a great scene where the shell-shocked Cage goes nuts and starts mowing down people while snarling like a mad dog. He doesn’t quite go into Wicker Man territory, but he comes close. And Slater does some fine work too. He gets a good scene where he and his Windtalker bond while playing harmonica. Adam Beach is also pretty good as Cage’s Windtalker. I’ve got to tell ya, I got a kick out of seeing Squanto go Rambo. And a young Mark Ruffalo lends solid support as another soldier.
Windtalkers is a pretty good flick, but it does have a funky flow to it. The film never really finds a comfortable rhythm. Some of the dialogue scenes are moving, but most of them seem rushed; almost as if Woo was itching to get back to the action. And while the action is spectacular, it all gets a bit numbing after a while. It’s one of those cases where the film would’ve worked better if it was about a half hour shorter or longer. Woo should’ve gave the movie a breakneck pace or allowed more breathing room in between the action. (There is a director’s cut that is considerably longer, which may work better.) Despite that, Windtalkers is a very good, if imperfect war flick that should fit the bill for Cage and Woo fans alike.
Next week’s Legend: Casper Van Dien.