Tomorrow You're Gone

Charlie Rankin (Stephen Dorff), recently released from prison, seeks vengeance for his jail-house mentor William "The Buddha" Pettigrew (Willem Dafoe). Along the way, he meets the ethereal, yet streetwise, Florence Jane. They embark on a unlikely road trip, careening towards an unlikely redemption and uncertain resolution.

Although this film had many good moments (such as the home invasion) and it is possibly Dorff's final acting to date (he has really blossomed in this role) it overall just seems too uneven and did not resonate well with me.

The primary problem I had was with Florence. She was not someone I felt the audience could understand or appreciate. Why did Rankin like her? Their whole relationship is built on nothing. And yes, I understand this is a whimsical road trip without commitment... but she was just the wrong character for such a thing.

And if there was a deeper message, I missed it. All that occurred to me is that Charlie Rankin has the same name as the Nazi in Orson Welles' "The Stranger". I sincerely doubt this was intentional, because trying to draw parallels is far too difficult -- Welles' Rankin is a false identity hiding from his criminal past. Rankin is this film uses the alias Samson and he, too, has a criminal past he cannot overcome. But that is it (and only works in the most vague way).

The novel probably clears things up, but after seeing the film I have little motivation to seek it out.

After four years in prison, Charlie (Stephen Dorff) seeks revenge for his mentor (Willem Dafoe), for which he gets paid handsomely well. The plan is executed but a surprise witness appears to ruin his plan; and also comes the random presence of a young woman (Michelle Monaghan) who crosses his path believing she can see through his soul, and soon afterwards they're on board on a long road trip to nowhere or to finish his plans. "Tomorrow You're Gone" is a lousy film experience where you can't feel anything for the characters, the situation or anything. Just contempt. The dialogues are poorly written, the scenarios are equally ineffective and at the end you wonder if anything makes sense in this dreadful story.

For those who say this an art-house suspense they don't know what's up. Here's a movie that doesn't offer twists or turn, Charlie keeps seeing ghosts for most of the film (even his mentor seems like a fantasmagoric character who appears whenever truly needed and there's this "weird love story" between the prostitute and Charlie which doesn't make any sense. I mean, it's hard to believe that after four years in prison and with a woman desperatly lusting for the man he keeps turning her down time and again. I couldn't buy that at all. It was pitiful and awful to see it not to mention she accepts her and joins her to whatever places after a simple conversation on the bus. Perfect strangers yet it all flows well with them. Let's not forget to count how many times she keeps calling him of "Samsom" over and over again.

What I could get from the story: this is the story of a man conflicted with himself and the revenge he's pursuing, tormented with visions of his past which affect his future. He doesn't have a life anymore, he doesn't believe in anything anymore and comes a woman who spot some goodness inside of him and tries to help in her own way, thinking she's in love with him. Some bits of redemption appear here and there but this man has no future since he's only worried about his fate or possible death - of which seems always eminent because he keeps putting himself into troubles and fights. After a time, we just don't care about him.

I was bored and annoyed after the initial 20 good minutes when I thought this movie was going places with an intriguing story. It went all downhill after the girl enters Charlie's life. It was so bad and so weak that for a couple of times I wasn't even looking at the screen, I was just hearing the noise the characters were making. I truly believe the good actors involved (poor Willem, at least he got the most interesting character to play in this wreck) were only in it for a couple of bucks in their pocket - trust me, movies like these don't pay millions but it pays.

I can't and won't recommend this picture. No sir, one can definitely skip this without regret. As for myself I regret watching it all the way when a little part of me kept insisting I should stop watching it. 2/10.

(2013) Tomorrow You're Gone PSYCHOLOGICAL CRIME DRAMA

I don't know, my interpretation is different than the synopsis on imdb.com: "Charlie Rankin, recently released from prison, seeks vengeance for his jail-house mentor William "The Buddha" Pettigrew. Along the way, he meets the ethereal, yet streetwise, Florence Jane. They embark on a unlikely road trip, careening towards an unlikely redemption and uncertain resolution." I thought I watched this movie carefully on all the parts that mattered, and to me anyway, the William Dafoe character wasn't addressed any name whatsoever, but according to imdb.com, Dafoe was the Buddha character when he could've been just another man sent by Buddha who was still in prison. Anyways, the tone is similar to another one of those Quentin Tarantino inspiration movies which the characters are not really sympathized until the end. Stephen Dorff plays Charlie Rankin who's just got out of prison. Once let out, he's then handed a key to open up to a locker and then assassinate someone for a specific amount of money- I suspect, it's either Buddha's lawyer or is it the judge that convicted Buddha to the slammer. At the same time, Charlie's getting all of these relapses and paranoid delusions, about what's going to happen to him, for he's very sensitive to noise. The other thing about Charlie is that he can't seem to eat regularly- and acts like he's always on medication even though there's no indication that he's a junkie. Before the hit were to happen, he then bumps with an attractive girl named Florence (Michelle Monaghan) on a bus stop and can't seem to love her back. While Charlie at first doesn't seem to have a soul or a conscience, he is struggling to have one as long as he spends more time with Florence. The acting is exceptional, but it contains nothing new to the genre at all.

TOMORROW YOU'RE GONE is no thriller, which is not, of course, an entirely bad thing. It's a strange, dreamlike, and fairly uneventful film about Charlie Rankin (Dorff) being released after a four-year stint in prison, intent on wreaking vengeance on those who put him there and performing "hits" against adversaries of "The Buddha"(Dafoe), another former--now dead?--inmate who acts as his ethereal mentor. He also meets "Florence Jane" (Monaghan) the girl of many-a-guy's dreams, but not Rankin's, who just wants to be friends with her. Florence Jane, it would seem, is a sort of guardian angel figure save, perhaps, the "guardian" part. Much of it is open to interpretation, and much of it simply doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

More thematic and atmospheric than action-oriented, TOMORROW YOU'RE GONE is well-filmed and well-played, and much of the script (especially Florence Jane's) is quite memorable without being overly pretentious: See the quote from "The Buddha" used as my title here. TYG also has things to show and tell us about the futility of vengeance, the destructive nature of bitterness, and various other things.

If only the plot were better. . .

"You have me to get you started out" Charlie Rankin (Dorff) has just got out of prison and stops in to see a man called "The Buddha" (Dafoe) who was writing him in prison. He is told about someone he is to murder for him. When the murder goes wrong Charlie begins to worry about what will happen. Him and a woman named Florence (Monaghan) begin to hang around together and Charlie thinks it will help, but he isn't sure of anything anymore. I have to start by saying that I did enjoy this and I recommend this movie but it is not for everyone. While not a total "art-house" type movie it is in that vein. The movie is more of a character driven type movie then I was expecting, but I really think that helped the movie. Dorff is good in this and Defoe has a strong and powerful presence even though he is only in it a few minutes. This is not really a fast paced movie but it will keep you watching right up until the end. I liked it. Overall, not a movie for everyone but well worth checking out. I say B.