251 reviews
"U Turn" seems to be a movie that not many people have enjoyed and I really wonder why that is. I'm not saying that it was the best movie ever, but it sure deserves better than what most people over here say about it.
The story starts with Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn), driving somewhere in the middle of the desert in Arizona, on his way to pay the bookies that have already taken two of his fingers because he was too late to pay them. His car breaks down and the only option that he has is to leave the main road and to go to a small, dusty town called Superior. In this town live all kind of weird people. A blind Indian who doesn't do much else but drinking Dr. Pepper on a bench, next to his dead dog; a dumb garage owner; a young macho, called T.N.T, who seems to come straight from the fifties and his nymphomaniac girlfriend... Bobby Cooper wants to get out of there as quickly as possible. But he has one problem. He's got no money because he was robbed and the mechanic charges him an enormous price for the repairs. He can't do anything else but to stay in the village, to try to live with these weird people and to stay out of the hands of the bookies until he has found some money...
I must say that I was quite surprised by this movie. The way everything was shot is really well done and the music (composed and selected by Ennio Morricone) gives it all an extra touch. Even all the acting was very convincing. With people like Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Nolte I don't expect anything less than a good performance. But it has to be said: Jennifer Lopez, who certainly isn't a great actress, was actually pretty good in this movie.
All in all this is a very good movie, plenty of dark humor, good acting and some very nice shots. Personally I think this is one of Oliver Stone's finer movies and that's why I give it a 7.5/10.
The story starts with Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn), driving somewhere in the middle of the desert in Arizona, on his way to pay the bookies that have already taken two of his fingers because he was too late to pay them. His car breaks down and the only option that he has is to leave the main road and to go to a small, dusty town called Superior. In this town live all kind of weird people. A blind Indian who doesn't do much else but drinking Dr. Pepper on a bench, next to his dead dog; a dumb garage owner; a young macho, called T.N.T, who seems to come straight from the fifties and his nymphomaniac girlfriend... Bobby Cooper wants to get out of there as quickly as possible. But he has one problem. He's got no money because he was robbed and the mechanic charges him an enormous price for the repairs. He can't do anything else but to stay in the village, to try to live with these weird people and to stay out of the hands of the bookies until he has found some money...
I must say that I was quite surprised by this movie. The way everything was shot is really well done and the music (composed and selected by Ennio Morricone) gives it all an extra touch. Even all the acting was very convincing. With people like Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Nolte I don't expect anything less than a good performance. But it has to be said: Jennifer Lopez, who certainly isn't a great actress, was actually pretty good in this movie.
All in all this is a very good movie, plenty of dark humor, good acting and some very nice shots. Personally I think this is one of Oliver Stone's finer movies and that's why I give it a 7.5/10.
- philip_vanderveken
- Mar 27, 2005
- Permalink
As usual before adding my two ha'porth-worth of comment, I looked at other comments (including Roger Ebert). And, although I didn't read all of them (there are very many), I was surprised that none I read seemed to pick up what was perfectly obvious to me: this is a very funny film, but done in a deadpan style. So deadpan, in fact, that I'm not surprised that might be news to many. I have, coincidentally, recently been buying up on DVD quite a few classic film noir (Build My Gallows High, The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers) and like everyone else thought that the era of film noir had come and gone and that such films were no longer being produced. Well, blow me if I'm not very wrong: this is quintessential film noir (though done in colour and with the proviso that most film noir is not intended to be funny). It would be pointless to recount the plot, but if you liked all those classic Mitchum/Bogart/Van Helin/Edwrad g Robinson etc films, you will love this. Sean Penn never disappoints. By the way the very final twist in the plot had me laughing out loud. Go for it: you won't be disappointed.
- pfgpowell-1
- Apr 10, 2007
- Permalink
Brilliant & hallucinatory cinematography, impeccable use of music, and a handful of dark, edgy character sketches all work together very nicely to make this bleak, dark-humoured desert noir an overlooked highlight of Oliver Stone's career. The highly evocative atmosphere plays out against the Arizona desert in a way that (in addition to foreshadowing some of the work done in Terry Gilliam's own twisted little masterpiece 'Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas') seems to mirror, in a more subtle and tasteful manner, much of Stone's work in 'Natural Born Killers'. However, rather than hitting us over the head with whatever socially charged 'message' he may have been attempting to convey in that film, here he is simply content to let it build up a thick and steamy ambience that moves our hapless comrades on towards their own impending personal apocalypse. Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, and Jennifer Lopez all turn in great performances and Billy Bob Thornton's eccentric character sketch elevates what may be defined as a bit part to a far more relevant status. Modern noir with a few dark twists and a taste all it's own that's well worth digging into...for those who have a taste for this kind of thing, if you know what I mean.
- centurymantra-2
- Jul 24, 2000
- Permalink
In "U-Turn," Oliver Stone narrows his focus from the broad-canvass projects he typically produces. Those seeking the knowing profundities of "JFK" or "Nixon" will be disappointed. This is a genre picture of the desert southwestern potboiler variety, a much-updated "Painted Desert" kind of film. Lots of bad luck, scorpions, whiskey, sexual perversity, bullying, greed, lots of sweat and very little shaving. The basic questions begged by a movie like this one are these: Who will have sex? Who will live? Who will die? And who will end up with the money? By the final reel, all these questions are very satisfactorily answered. For a picture of this type, "U-Turn" is very good indeed.
Sean Penn is smashing, Nolte has never been creepier, and Jennifer Lopez is, er, extremely effective in this film's only real female role. John Voight, buried in the role a mystic Indian, is most entertaining. And we get another patented oddball performance by Billy Bob Thornton that is absolutely worth the price of admission. For good measure, Juaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes deliver a too-brief but electrifying turn as a young couple adept at creating trouble. As if Sean Penn, in this picture, didn't have enough already.
Sure, the predictable desert atmospherics are a bit overdone. But the solid script by John Ridley, the letter-perfect performances, and Stone's sure directorial hand make this one of his better films.
This movie is out of the theatres, so one word to you parents about "U-Turn." This is not one to watch in the presence of the kiddies. It contains very graphic and violence and sexual material clearly unsuitable for young folk or the sensitive soul of any age.
But if you like your film noir with sand and scorpions thrown in for good measure, this is a sure-fire rental that will leave you fully satisfied.
Sean Penn is smashing, Nolte has never been creepier, and Jennifer Lopez is, er, extremely effective in this film's only real female role. John Voight, buried in the role a mystic Indian, is most entertaining. And we get another patented oddball performance by Billy Bob Thornton that is absolutely worth the price of admission. For good measure, Juaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes deliver a too-brief but electrifying turn as a young couple adept at creating trouble. As if Sean Penn, in this picture, didn't have enough already.
Sure, the predictable desert atmospherics are a bit overdone. But the solid script by John Ridley, the letter-perfect performances, and Stone's sure directorial hand make this one of his better films.
This movie is out of the theatres, so one word to you parents about "U-Turn." This is not one to watch in the presence of the kiddies. It contains very graphic and violence and sexual material clearly unsuitable for young folk or the sensitive soul of any age.
But if you like your film noir with sand and scorpions thrown in for good measure, this is a sure-fire rental that will leave you fully satisfied.
A marked gambler (Penn) on the run, comes to a little town in the middle of nowhere, south USA. A town filled with very unusual characters, sordid secrets and strange opportunities, that seem very appealing to this "Pat Poker" on the run, which desperately needs money to pay the idiotic, redneck town mechanic. Penn and Nolte are at the greatest level, and Lopez fills the requisites of her character. Beautiful piece of writing, with surprising plot twists which make way to a most brilliant ending, "Stone" style despair. A very misunderstood work by this brilliant, all-American director. Another piece of genuine America, with all her virtues and even more flaws, seen trough "stone" cold eyes...
U-Turn is about a man named Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) who is on his way to pay a debt to a gangster when his car breaks down in the small, redneck town of Superior. There, Bobby is taken advantage of by the good IL' boys in every way possible, from the dirty mechanic to the town sheriff. He meets a beautiful girl named Grace (Jennifer Lopez) and falls for her, and she seemingly falls for him as well. From here, there are twists and turns in the plot all the way to the very end of the movie.
Sean Penn was decent as Bobby, but seemed a bit week and was taken advantage of a bit too easily. I guess that was Bobby's character so he did a good job. Jennifer Lopez did not have as big a part as I thought, but she did OK with it. Nothing spectacular, just OK.
The characters that stole the movie, in my honest opinion, were Darrell the mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton) and Toby N. Tucker (Joaquin Phoenix). They had the redneck stereotypes down pat, especially Thornton.
This movie was a decent little thriller. I am glad I did not see it way back when it was in theaters but it is OK for a rental. I give 7 of 10 stars.
Sean Penn was decent as Bobby, but seemed a bit week and was taken advantage of a bit too easily. I guess that was Bobby's character so he did a good job. Jennifer Lopez did not have as big a part as I thought, but she did OK with it. Nothing spectacular, just OK.
The characters that stole the movie, in my honest opinion, were Darrell the mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton) and Toby N. Tucker (Joaquin Phoenix). They had the redneck stereotypes down pat, especially Thornton.
This movie was a decent little thriller. I am glad I did not see it way back when it was in theaters but it is OK for a rental. I give 7 of 10 stars.
- FrancesTheWHORE
- Mar 7, 2005
- Permalink
This is one of my favorite Oliver Stone films. It has everything (cheating incestuous sex, chopping off digits, a dumb hick mechanic, a blind native American who wants Dr. Pepper all the time, etc etc etc) that a well-rounded movie needs, plus it was completely done in a comic fashion. It is closest to Stone's other film "Natural Born Killers" by way of stylish camera shots and the addition of comedy into a dramatic setting.
Sean Penn brilliantly plays the lead character, whose car blows a radiator hose out in the middle of the Arizona desert, and the closest town is that of Superior, AZ, a dirt-road town with barely 1,000 people living there, if that. Penn goes through hell from the beginning when random characters in the city want something from him and in return, it drives him to try his best to get the hell out of Superior. Everything during his days in Superior is centered around money and the fact that he has hardly any. So he gets schemed into murders, and he gets whatever little he has taken away from him (his train ticket gets ripped up by the local hoodlum, TNT, again brilliantly played by Joaquin Phoenix, and he has several full bottles of beverages broken for different reasons). Therefore, he's constantly running in circles to get out of this town.
There is an all-star cast (back then, and now) of actors: Jennifer Lopez (a better singer than actress), Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Bob Thornton (the best among the bunch as the hick mechanic), Sean Penn, Claire Danes, Liv Tyler (only for a second in the train station), and Jon Voight...all packed into a nice DVD. The music had that comic, light-hearted side to it (with the country sound of a jew's-harp played over violin or whatever, etc) which helped you to see the irony that is driving him to madness in this town. Again the camera shots were awesome, and they had that Oliver Stone quality of the 90's where he would switch frames with the villain of the movie with an animal skull and switch the point-of-view to see what the actors are seeing, and so on.
I didn't like the ending so much. I kind of wanted things to resolve themselves, but instead, things just keep on falling into the bad-luck-category of his life. I also hated Jennifer Lopez's delivery of lines (just like in any other movie with her...The Cell, etc) because they feel so fake and put on that you know the director was just looking for T&A for the film. Also she doesn't play a native American very well. She has a thick accent straying too much towards Latino that you don't pick up on any cultural change until you get the story.
Overall, though, (bad point aside) it is a brilliant movie that is easy to watch if you like the other Stone films. I had to give it a 9/10 for great performances, great music, awesome story, and everything in between. Go out and buy it if your a fan of any of the actors listed above, or if you are trying to find a great weekend film with friends.
Sean Penn brilliantly plays the lead character, whose car blows a radiator hose out in the middle of the Arizona desert, and the closest town is that of Superior, AZ, a dirt-road town with barely 1,000 people living there, if that. Penn goes through hell from the beginning when random characters in the city want something from him and in return, it drives him to try his best to get the hell out of Superior. Everything during his days in Superior is centered around money and the fact that he has hardly any. So he gets schemed into murders, and he gets whatever little he has taken away from him (his train ticket gets ripped up by the local hoodlum, TNT, again brilliantly played by Joaquin Phoenix, and he has several full bottles of beverages broken for different reasons). Therefore, he's constantly running in circles to get out of this town.
There is an all-star cast (back then, and now) of actors: Jennifer Lopez (a better singer than actress), Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Bob Thornton (the best among the bunch as the hick mechanic), Sean Penn, Claire Danes, Liv Tyler (only for a second in the train station), and Jon Voight...all packed into a nice DVD. The music had that comic, light-hearted side to it (with the country sound of a jew's-harp played over violin or whatever, etc) which helped you to see the irony that is driving him to madness in this town. Again the camera shots were awesome, and they had that Oliver Stone quality of the 90's where he would switch frames with the villain of the movie with an animal skull and switch the point-of-view to see what the actors are seeing, and so on.
I didn't like the ending so much. I kind of wanted things to resolve themselves, but instead, things just keep on falling into the bad-luck-category of his life. I also hated Jennifer Lopez's delivery of lines (just like in any other movie with her...The Cell, etc) because they feel so fake and put on that you know the director was just looking for T&A for the film. Also she doesn't play a native American very well. She has a thick accent straying too much towards Latino that you don't pick up on any cultural change until you get the story.
Overall, though, (bad point aside) it is a brilliant movie that is easy to watch if you like the other Stone films. I had to give it a 9/10 for great performances, great music, awesome story, and everything in between. Go out and buy it if your a fan of any of the actors listed above, or if you are trying to find a great weekend film with friends.
I have to say this film was sort of what I thought it was... I really enjoyed it!
I've seen Sean Penn in a few films now and they're all good. Oliver Stone is one of the finest men in film production. It's visually stunning, loads of mad camera pans and colour blast-outs! The supporting cast are great as well. Billy Bob Thornton looks nothing like him and is away with it, Jennifer Lopez is attractive an alluring, Nick Nolte is totally convincing and great as the wicked husband, Joiquin Phoenix is mad as TNT and possibly the best is John Voight as a blind homeless person!
A great film with a good ending... although I wouldn't like to be any of them!
A good 7/10
I've seen Sean Penn in a few films now and they're all good. Oliver Stone is one of the finest men in film production. It's visually stunning, loads of mad camera pans and colour blast-outs! The supporting cast are great as well. Billy Bob Thornton looks nothing like him and is away with it, Jennifer Lopez is attractive an alluring, Nick Nolte is totally convincing and great as the wicked husband, Joiquin Phoenix is mad as TNT and possibly the best is John Voight as a blind homeless person!
A great film with a good ending... although I wouldn't like to be any of them!
A good 7/10
`U Turn' is an assault on the senses. But then again, what more can one expect from director Oliver Stone whose innovative brand of filmmaking is often filled with characters that are violent, insane, heroic, and even bizarre. `U Turn' has many characters played by big name actors that intertwine themselves around a central character, in this case, played by Sean Penn (`Casualties Of War'). Ultimately, a film about getting away with murder, `U Turn' is an intriguing blend of story, violence, and strange people. `U Turn' takes place during a hot day in Arizona where we meet our principal character, Bobby (Penn), who is on his way to California to pay a debt to the mob that has helped him in one way or the other. When his car breaks down, Bobby is forced to have a redneck, roadside mechanic, named Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton), fix it. While his car is in the shop, he ends up walking into a local town where he meets some very eccentric people from a blind vagrant (Jon Voight), a drunken sheriff, a hillbilly and his girlfriend, to an exotic woman who sticks out like a sore thumb against the simplicity of the town. Every person he encounters ultimately leads to a conclusion that he could never have expected. Robert Richardson whose superb cinematography has been used in several films of note filmed `U Turn' masterfully. Richardson's craft with a camera can be seen in such other movies as `The Horse Whisperer,' `Snow Falling On Cedars,' and `The Four Feathers.' With its rough cuts, non-steady cam shots, and scenes filmed as the sun glaring down on the actors, Richardson's work gives a harsh and nauseating feel to the film. Stone's direction was excellent. He's an admirable director in that he doesn't follow the mainstream concepts that are commonly seen in most motion pictures. Watching a Stone film is like watching graduate film students show off their work-it's fresh, energetic, and exciting. `U Turn,' undoubtedly, has some of 1997s best performances. Penn is outstanding as a guy who just keeps happening on the wrong place at the wrong time. Jennifer Lopez is surprisingly good in her performances as the wife of a real estate salesman. Lopez seems to have some talent on the screen
unlike her singing career. Her performance in another offbeat movie, `Out Of Sight,' was also good. Nick Nolte is as Nick Nolte does-he's rough around the edges, perverse and violent as the real estate salesman who seems to rule over the sleepy town. Other performances of note are that of Thornton has a slack-jawed yokel mechanic. Joaquin Phoenix (`Signs') as a hillbilly and his simple-minded girlfriend, played by Claire Danes (`The Hours') give the film a hysterical notch. Other points of interest in the film are the score, composed by veteran, Italian, film composer Ennio Morrcone (`Mission To Mars') whose music adds a humorous atmosphere to the irony of the film. All in all, `U Turn' is a film that is gritty and brutal, but entertaining as all hell. ***1/2
- ilovedolby
- May 22, 2003
- Permalink
Oliver Stone directs this dramatic dark comedy about a small-time hood(Sean Penn)on the run with mob money. On the way to Las Vegas his car breaks down in a desolate little town Superior Arizona where the locals tend to welcome their guest with doses of sex, infidelity and murder-for-hire. Quirky, dark and humorous and full of off beat characters. Also in the cast are:Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Jennifer Lopez and Billy Bob Thornton. Even smaller parts are filled by Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes. Some comical relief comes from the old blind man played by Jon Voight. John Ridley's screenplay has you feeling sympathy for a character who probably has never deserved any. Fun to watch.
- michaelRokeefe
- Mar 21, 2003
- Permalink
Bobby (Sean Penn) is on his way to pay off a debt to a gangster who has already taken two fingers. His car breaks down as he pulls into desert outpost Superior, Arizona in the middle of nowhere. He leaves the car with Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton) the mechanic. He hits on Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez) but she's actually married to Jake (Nick Nolte) who catches them kissing. After punching him, Jake drives him back to town suggesting a scheme to kill Grace. A robbery at the store ends with his bag of money shot to bits. Darrell has his car ripped apart and wants $150 for the trouble. He calls the gangster who is not happy and sends a thug. At the diner, he talks to Jenny (Claire Danes) which provokes her boyfriend Toby N. Tucker (Joaquin Phoenix). Bobby goes to Jake with a proposal.
Director Oliver Stone is throwing everything onto the screen but not enough of it sticks. He fills this with crazy characters. The music and sound is deliberately wacky. He's trying so hard that it almost hurts to watch this. The style is so random that it all gets a bit tiresome. The characters are not compelling and Sean Penn doesn't make me care about his character. The temperature may be hot but there is no heat about any of this.
Director Oliver Stone is throwing everything onto the screen but not enough of it sticks. He fills this with crazy characters. The music and sound is deliberately wacky. He's trying so hard that it almost hurts to watch this. The style is so random that it all gets a bit tiresome. The characters are not compelling and Sean Penn doesn't make me care about his character. The temperature may be hot but there is no heat about any of this.
- SnoopyStyle
- Dec 28, 2014
- Permalink
U Turn is a great film. Of course it borrows from other films, so what? Sean Penn turns in a great performance as does Nick Nolte, Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Voight.Jennifer Lopez does her best to keep up with the seasoned professionals and by and large succeeds. As the story unfolds we get some great cameo performances from Voight and Thornton, whilst Penn pulls out all the stops. The twisting noir-ish plot succeeds in keeping us enthralled for the duration. None of the characters are particularly likeable which could be a problem in certain circumstances but in this film it just serves to make us enjoy their various fates. If Stone were to make smaller scale films like this instead of overblown rubbish like Any Given Sunday, Natural Born Killers and The Doors he might just find a more willing audience.
- terraplane
- Jan 8, 2004
- Permalink
It's like a trip into purgatory, and the place is filled with devils and yes, that includes our protagonist. It's like a twisted version of Chinatown but without the big conspiracy but with the incest plot. All with the crazy style and editing a la Oliver Stone.
The thing is J. Lo should have used this role to really help her film career but she screwed it up. She didn't use it to her advantage at all, she didn't bring all the characters out to the surface. But the rest of the cast is crazy, in talent but also in the direction they take the characters. Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes, Julie Hagerty. All were insane and over-the-top but low-key great.
The thing is J. Lo should have used this role to really help her film career but she screwed it up. She didn't use it to her advantage at all, she didn't bring all the characters out to the surface. But the rest of the cast is crazy, in talent but also in the direction they take the characters. Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes, Julie Hagerty. All were insane and over-the-top but low-key great.
- M0n0_bogdan
- Nov 23, 2023
- Permalink
I'm a huge fan of Oliver Stone, he's one of my favourite directors, but I've never been so on-the-fence about any of his movies. U-Turn has many good qualities, and also many bad qualities, too. I loved all the scenes with Bobby's interaction with the crazy townspeople, and I couldn't help but be amused when something bad happens to him. But the actual plot is stupid. The twists, turns, and double-crossings were so ridiculous that it seems like it's just spoofing a bunch of movies with those kinds of plot lines. It likely was the intention, but that still doesn't make it right. It's highlight is mostly the great cast and great acting.
U-Turn is definitely at the bottom of the list when it comes to Oliver Stone films, but if you've seen 'em all, you might as well see this one, too. After all, there are plenty of fans of the movie, and I sort of thought it was good....and kind of liked it. But I know Stone is above this and I expected more.
My rating: 5/10
U-Turn is definitely at the bottom of the list when it comes to Oliver Stone films, but if you've seen 'em all, you might as well see this one, too. After all, there are plenty of fans of the movie, and I sort of thought it was good....and kind of liked it. But I know Stone is above this and I expected more.
My rating: 5/10
Bobby Cooper is on his way to pay off his gambling debt to a Las Vegas loan shark. However when his car breaks down he has to wait in a small town until it is fixed. Unwittingly he is meets a beautiful woman and her husband, who offers him money to kill her. With the odds stacking up against Bobby he finds himself drawn deeper into greed, theft and murder.
This was a step away from political dramas and conspiracy thrillers for Oliver Stone, here he takes a standard film-noir plot and gives it his own touch. The plot is pure noir - full of shady characters, femme fatales, double crosses and murder, but it is compelling right till the end. It's thrilling to see Bobby become trapped in the town of Superior by a series of events (some coincidental, some deliberate) and unable to get away from the inevitable.
But what Stone does makes it even better. He films the whole thing in a style similar to that of Natural Born Killers, except not as graphic. He uses different film stocks, he cuts in different shots of characters while they voice over - the overall effect adds to the tension and the feeling of excitement. However he also makes good use of the wide landscape and uses long panoramic shots - this isn't a pop video director! Another great touch is the music - it's not moody like most noirs but instead mirrors the bright desert by being upbeat and unusual, the overall effect being a very quirky feeling.
The cast are roundly excellent and a great list of names. Sean Penn is totally believable as someone who tries to avoid the unavoidable and you do feel like he's trapped. Lopez has not been better - she is every inch the sultry femme fatale. Nolte is creepy as her husband, and does well mixing his gruff exterior with deeper guilt. Powers Booth, Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes are all good in minor but still important characters. Pleasant surprises exist in the rest of the cast with Jon Voight, Laurie Metcalf and Liv Tyler making cameos - although in the case of Tyler I found it more distracting than the others (she appears in the background as if the film is saying "look - it's Liv Tyler".
Overall an excellent criminally-ignored film with a great cast and the touch of a great director.
This was a step away from political dramas and conspiracy thrillers for Oliver Stone, here he takes a standard film-noir plot and gives it his own touch. The plot is pure noir - full of shady characters, femme fatales, double crosses and murder, but it is compelling right till the end. It's thrilling to see Bobby become trapped in the town of Superior by a series of events (some coincidental, some deliberate) and unable to get away from the inevitable.
But what Stone does makes it even better. He films the whole thing in a style similar to that of Natural Born Killers, except not as graphic. He uses different film stocks, he cuts in different shots of characters while they voice over - the overall effect adds to the tension and the feeling of excitement. However he also makes good use of the wide landscape and uses long panoramic shots - this isn't a pop video director! Another great touch is the music - it's not moody like most noirs but instead mirrors the bright desert by being upbeat and unusual, the overall effect being a very quirky feeling.
The cast are roundly excellent and a great list of names. Sean Penn is totally believable as someone who tries to avoid the unavoidable and you do feel like he's trapped. Lopez has not been better - she is every inch the sultry femme fatale. Nolte is creepy as her husband, and does well mixing his gruff exterior with deeper guilt. Powers Booth, Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes are all good in minor but still important characters. Pleasant surprises exist in the rest of the cast with Jon Voight, Laurie Metcalf and Liv Tyler making cameos - although in the case of Tyler I found it more distracting than the others (she appears in the background as if the film is saying "look - it's Liv Tyler".
Overall an excellent criminally-ignored film with a great cast and the touch of a great director.
- bob the moo
- Jan 3, 2002
- Permalink
I'm ashamed to say that even though I'd seen this film in the video store for years I haven't gotten around to renting it until a few days ago. Well, I've seen the film now and it was better than I expected. U Turn is a very entertaining, funny and violent film. Sean Penn is great as always, Lopez surprised me by actually doing a half decent job acting, something she hasn't done in any of the other films I've seen her in (with the exception of Out of Sight... maybe). I have to say, though, that the characters that make this film entertaining and sometimes even hilarious are Billy Bob Thornton's disgusting mechanic and Joaquin Phoenix's violent TNT. It was so funny to watch Phoenix's face every time the sheriff turned up. Hilarious. (6/10)
A superb cast couldn't save this train wreck of a film. It's certainly dark with undertones of Hitchcock but time again I wouldn't watch it as the story is so weak.
I have to say that Jon Voight and Billy Bob are at their unrecognisable best though but even their performances couldn't make it a good experience.
I have to say that Jon Voight and Billy Bob are at their unrecognisable best though but even their performances couldn't make it a good experience.
- Vindelander
- Jul 5, 2021
- Permalink
When I saw U-Turn, I didn't know what to expect. I guess I was looking forward to a good scary suspense flick. But then I was very surprised and found that the content of this movie was far greater and more interesting than just trying to scare the audience. This movie is showing emotions of fear, but also faith, commitment, sadness , and love. The end was so surprising, I gotta see it again. And I will watch it from a totally different perspective (this is a very rare quality for any movie), and I will enjoy it just as much, or maybe even more. I tried to detect fallacies in the story. I couldn't find one. Plus, for those who appreciate great music, the soundtrack only helps to heighten the experience of the film I wish I could say all the things I liked about it but that would spoil your experience. So take a night off and go see U-Turn. Sit back, relax, enjoy, and let it scare you. It's Miller time.
- bradleftmee2
- Apr 22, 2006
- Permalink
Contrary to the fine sight to see when standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ. Sean Penn is in a living hell of Superior, AZ. This cast is deep and so is this story line. It's a great movie if you enjoy complex storyline thrillers. You can tell it's from 20+ years ago but the flow of the movie and entertainment of watching makes you forgot until you hear the scoring music in the background. It's definately worth a watch if you're into thrillers.
- jonapachesales
- Jun 29, 2022
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Your average Oliver Stone fan would say (at least in my experience) that U Turn is his worst film. In a list of socially conscious films, usually critical of "the system" in one way or another, U Turn certainly stands out as uncharacteristic, or so it might seem. I think Oliver Stone may well be the best director there is and in my opinion U Turn is his best film.
In Hollywood you get movies that are actually vehicles as they say for action, gratuitous sex, violence, cheap scares, laughs, etc. That is to say, these movies exist merely to provide the viewer with plenty of (fill in the blank), and the plot is merely a line taking the viewer from one (fill in the blank) sequence to another. I see U Turn as a vehicle for art, and the plot is really just intended to bring the viewer from one brilliantly visually composed episode of colorful character interaction to another. Not to be confused with art house fare, with all its pretentiously multilayered, obscure self referential metaphors and what have you. Save that stuff for the beatniks. The art of U Turn is in its extra dimensional visual narrative, which makes use of brief cuts of imagery and often sound to interrupt the scene, so as to give mental impressions visual representation. You don't watch U Turn, you experience it.
So when someone says U turn is an inferior imitation of Red Rock West for instance, and I've seen this comparison made time and time again, I have to laugh. As if Stone would lower himself to such an undertaking. While the plot may resemble that of Red Rock West, the plot alone is almost inconsequential when talking about the value of U Turn as a film.
The value of U Turn is in the way it visualizes the mental, a technique Stone has referred to as cubism. As with Picasso's cubism, which was his way of conveying the third dimension of an image while limited to a flat medium, Stone's "cubism" is intended to visualize what you know is there but can't see: the mental. This cubism has been present in most of Oliver Stone's recent projects: traces of it in The Doors and JFK, over the top in Natural Born Killers, subtly used but obviously present in Nixon, and finally executed to perfection in U Turn.
So in this respect, U Turn is perfectly characteristic of his body of work, maybe not as a filmmaker but certainly as an artist. As Stone develops a mastery of his cubism in future films (we see it again in Any Given Sunday), we will look back and realize that U Turn is the standard against which these films are to be measured.
Having said my piece about cubism, let me say a few words about the characters in U Turn. U Turn is a surrealistic odyssey into Bobby Cooper's limbo, and its other characters are the obstacles that keep him trapped there. Every character given any screen time simply shines. The actors in U Turn understand (better than many viewers do unfortunately) that their role in the film is a joke. Jake, Darrell, the Sheriff, Jenny and Toby, the blind man, even Bobby - these are spoofs (for lack of a better word) on their character types. This is not over acting, these are comic performances carried out with talent rarely seen. The strength of U Turn's characters is comparable only to that of a movie like Apocalypse Now. Again here we have a movie that is a surrealistic odyssey not to watch but to experience. Kilgore, Chef, the Photo Journalist, these too were comic performances. In movies like these, each character is really an episode in the narrative of the protagonist's journey.
Apocalypse Now was ahead of its time and U Turn, I think, will prove to be as well.
10 out of 10. A UNIQUE film experience.
In Hollywood you get movies that are actually vehicles as they say for action, gratuitous sex, violence, cheap scares, laughs, etc. That is to say, these movies exist merely to provide the viewer with plenty of (fill in the blank), and the plot is merely a line taking the viewer from one (fill in the blank) sequence to another. I see U Turn as a vehicle for art, and the plot is really just intended to bring the viewer from one brilliantly visually composed episode of colorful character interaction to another. Not to be confused with art house fare, with all its pretentiously multilayered, obscure self referential metaphors and what have you. Save that stuff for the beatniks. The art of U Turn is in its extra dimensional visual narrative, which makes use of brief cuts of imagery and often sound to interrupt the scene, so as to give mental impressions visual representation. You don't watch U Turn, you experience it.
So when someone says U turn is an inferior imitation of Red Rock West for instance, and I've seen this comparison made time and time again, I have to laugh. As if Stone would lower himself to such an undertaking. While the plot may resemble that of Red Rock West, the plot alone is almost inconsequential when talking about the value of U Turn as a film.
The value of U Turn is in the way it visualizes the mental, a technique Stone has referred to as cubism. As with Picasso's cubism, which was his way of conveying the third dimension of an image while limited to a flat medium, Stone's "cubism" is intended to visualize what you know is there but can't see: the mental. This cubism has been present in most of Oliver Stone's recent projects: traces of it in The Doors and JFK, over the top in Natural Born Killers, subtly used but obviously present in Nixon, and finally executed to perfection in U Turn.
So in this respect, U Turn is perfectly characteristic of his body of work, maybe not as a filmmaker but certainly as an artist. As Stone develops a mastery of his cubism in future films (we see it again in Any Given Sunday), we will look back and realize that U Turn is the standard against which these films are to be measured.
Having said my piece about cubism, let me say a few words about the characters in U Turn. U Turn is a surrealistic odyssey into Bobby Cooper's limbo, and its other characters are the obstacles that keep him trapped there. Every character given any screen time simply shines. The actors in U Turn understand (better than many viewers do unfortunately) that their role in the film is a joke. Jake, Darrell, the Sheriff, Jenny and Toby, the blind man, even Bobby - these are spoofs (for lack of a better word) on their character types. This is not over acting, these are comic performances carried out with talent rarely seen. The strength of U Turn's characters is comparable only to that of a movie like Apocalypse Now. Again here we have a movie that is a surrealistic odyssey not to watch but to experience. Kilgore, Chef, the Photo Journalist, these too were comic performances. In movies like these, each character is really an episode in the narrative of the protagonist's journey.
Apocalypse Now was ahead of its time and U Turn, I think, will prove to be as well.
10 out of 10. A UNIQUE film experience.
While this film isn't in the greatest form of the classic director Oliver Stone, it isn't his worst film like many have said (personally, I don't think Stone has ever made a really bad movie). U Turn is a film noir type of movie with Sean Penn getting mixed up with weirdos on his way to get to Vegas. These weirdos include Jennifer Lopez (one of her two films where she shows breast) as a seductive wife, Nick Nolte as a crazy husband and other towners like Jon Voight and Billy Bob Thornton. Film is not always on track and might be a little sloppy, but it is never boring, with fine performances by the entire cast. It starts with a dead animal, and is just fine through and through. B+
- Quinoa1984
- Mar 3, 2001
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The cast of this film is amazing, along with a great director, so how did this film turn out to be so unwatchable? None of the blame lies on the actors, although you do wonder why they would sign up for something with such a bad screenplay!
Loathsome characters, dire setting, badly edited and way too drawn out. The soundtrack doesn't help much either, creating a horrible atmosphere. I believe this is Oliver Stones attempt at a Quentin Tarantino move, but fails on so many levels. It's actually depressing to think about, knowing that I wasted two hours of my life watching it. I would love to meet Oliver Stone and beat him over the head with the DVD I wasted £3.99 on.
Loathsome characters, dire setting, badly edited and way too drawn out. The soundtrack doesn't help much either, creating a horrible atmosphere. I believe this is Oliver Stones attempt at a Quentin Tarantino move, but fails on so many levels. It's actually depressing to think about, knowing that I wasted two hours of my life watching it. I would love to meet Oliver Stone and beat him over the head with the DVD I wasted £3.99 on.