Dark Country

A newly married couple hits the road and drives through the desert from Las Vegas when they encounter a person who was just in an accident. They take him and try to find some help, but they get more than they bargained for and all hell breaks loose.

I was intrigued by this film from the trailer, not because of the story or the actors, but it was the visual flare that grabbed me. It was a film noir with a twilight zone twist and that was exactly what the film gives you. Dark Country is the directorial debut of Thomas Jane and with Dark Country he shows that he has some interesting concepts and talent to back it up, yet still needs time to hone those skills. Dark Country, while showcasing some impressive scenes, comes off as slightly amateurish at times.

The most evident is the green screen. Now, Jane has obviously chosen to make it noticeable that when they are in the car, that the scenery in the background was stylized to make it feel like a comic book. It works, but the problem lies in the production values that are evident in the cracks. Bits of the green screen are visible through our lead female characters hair and around their faces. This takes you out of the film and you realize that you're watching a film.

The second would be the audio. While Jane pays a lot of attention to the detail of the visuals, he seems to have let the audio slide a little bit. If a film has bad visuals, the audience can forgive you as long as the sound is good. If a film has bad audio, you are screwed. While the film doesn't have horrible audio, there are times that it feels like it was put together in a day. ADR is very evident and jolting.

I give the film some credit for the intrigue. I immediately wanted to listen to the audio commentary from Jane to see what his agenda was. I got some of the film, while other parts of it were lost on me. The film is without a doubt a Twilight Zone entry aided by the film noir and graphic novel aspects that Jane added. It's a genre piece that has a specific market. Jane knows what he is doing and comes off extremely prepared and knowledgeable. I just wish he would have taken a bit more time with this one and improved those little imperfections.

It's funny, during the film there were parts where I asked myself if Jane was trying to make a 3D film. Reading up on the film, much to my surprise it apparently was suppose to be a 3D film. Not only that, but Jane is apparently not happy with the final product. I can see his frustration because there is a lot here that could be good. Instead it feels as if it's an exercise. A project to see if Jane could actually direct.

Dark Country is a beautiful looking film that has a few problems, yet those few problems are jarring enough to make you upset with the final product.

I found this to be a rather enjoyable film. When I first began watching this I was initially struck with the impression that it was going to be a bit cheesy and the way it was shot seemed to come off as tacky low budget green screen work. As the movie progressed, I began to realize that all the things that seemed sorta off were purposeful. It then became a enjoyable watch that has a really nice late 50's to late 60's feel to it. Think of how Marion looked while driving to the Bates Motel in Psycho. That sort of screen work is present in this film. I found it really creative and loved watching it. The story has a Twilight Zone feel but could've been a bit more solid and there were times when I didn't think the actors were playing off each other all that great. Overall, I liked it but this is probably not going to be a film for everyone. In my opinion. the visual concept must be embraced and understood to enjoy it.

I was watching this movie and I started to get bored, but I stayed on, because I thought it would be hypocritical of me to chew on the fast formula movies and not appreciate slow buildup. But the problem is, all the buildup has to build up to something, and there was nothing there.

I agree the feel was nice, it reminded me of those old policier books from my childhood, but there was no solvable mystery, no underlying wonder and the twist at the end just made no sense whatsoever.

The thing is, I kind of like Thomas Jane, and I understand if he is more of an actor than a director, still, he could have chosen a better story. And man, that blond chick was annoying.

Well, If you like Thomas Jane as an Actor, you'll like this film. I saw him in the Film Thursday. I always enjoyed the roles hes played. Not only did he act well in this film, but he directed it fairly well too. I think that the film noir characteristics were well portrayed, though that the film bordered a horror flick. The acting was great, and I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes film noir or thomas jane. I feel like the film was going somewhere at the end and he just didn't quite get the ending he had hoped for, but loved the film, and all the special effects that remind me of the film noir films of the 1940's.

Well, I am not sure what to think about this movie I had fun looking at it, Lauren German is more than gorgeous, the acting has no flaws, the pace is satisfying, characters are alive, normal, but the place where they are is not . The story is not that original, if you have some practice in mystery thrillers you have a fair chance to guess what is happening long before the end. Could be a remake of some old movie, a good remake anyway. What I liked most is the nice photography of the desert night. Did you ever feel out of space-time looking at a starred sky, undisturbed by city lights? Well, that is the case. As for the 3D, have fun.