Rage - Irrsinnige Gewalt

"It's the Rage" is actually the title of this movie, which I saw the other night on cable, and it's an odd duck of a film, starting out with Jeff Daniels' character shooting a man in his living room. He explains to his horrified wife (Joan Allen) that the man was a burglar, but she discovers, with even more horror, that it's actually her husband's business partner. What the @#^k??! Then, some other characters are introduced, each one crazier than the other (played by Gary Sinese, Robert Forster, Anna Paquin, Giovanni Ribisi, all great). Then, the characters start interacting, in extremely clever, well-written ways. The one thing that unites these loonies is that they're all on the edge and they all have guns. (Is that two things?) Consider the possibilities. Or better yet, see the film.

It's no accident that posters of Natural Born Killers and Reservoir Dogs decorate the walls of the video rental store. It's no accident that Gary Sinise looked strikingly similar to Bill Gates. It's no accident that Jeff Daniels complains about how much he hated a certain film. ("The plot was ridiculous. Get this: two thieves-- Hunnybunny and Pumpkin, a hitman eating a Hawaiian Burger while he's about to kill people, --I didn't buy it" he mutters.) ...and it's certainly no accident that the opening titles closely resemble those of another socially satiric commentary: Dr. Strangelove.

In a world hyper-saturated with media and mass mayhem, it's certainly no accident that a film like It's the Rage would hit the film scene with a piercing look at America's obsession with the second amendment. Without any regard for 'realism'-- the video clerk replies to Jeff Daniels' criticism with: "It's a movie, it doesn't have to make sense, I found that out"-- ITR follows a group of people through their control-obsessed lives as they single-handedly use and abuse each other. The handgun is the most common link, but there are others. Money, fidelity, television, theft, and isolation also fill the otherwise vacant lives of our nine characters.

The box looks like Magnolia, but what's inside is a very clear and scathing attack on Americans and their firearm addiction. Made in Canada by a first-time director, (and very skillfully at that) it's most directly a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later look at Wayne LaPeirre and his legacy of legal weapons.

Tolka's advice: watch this one with your favorite die hard Republican friend, but do wear a bullet-proof-vest for the heated discussion to follow.

Excellent acting, sly intertwining of modern characters, and escalating suspense make this movie intriguing and very watchable, despite the sophomoric and "in-your-face" anti-gun agenda that is as subtle as a lead balloon.

To be taken seriously only as political satire. Quite humorous and edgy, with a sharp script, but spotty continuity in the narrative. Almost more a cartoon than a good story.

None of the characters are believable, which is OK, as they seem to be distillations of types. All of the men in this film are horrible--I wouldn't want a friend or a relative among them. Women are treated as victims, more or less, what spare representation there is of women, though both Joan Allen and Anna Paquin are wonderful in these highly stylized roles.

Jeff Daniels's performance, as are those of most of the other men, are masterpieces of underacting. Gary Sinise and Giovanni Ribisi are given grand opportunities to chew up the scenery, which one may have every expectation either will do, literally, at any moment.

It seems to me this is also less about guns than it is about how guns are a horrible and all too real manifestation of those things--far more terrible and dark--that may have become by now an inalterable part of the American (that is, the U.S. American) character. Some other themes, besides casual (and not so casual) violence--twisted attitudes toward sexuality, the vagaries of the over-hot infotech culture, and our inability to perceive our own psychological deficiencies--are not well integrated.

this film is different as a score of people discover things about themselves and others that they didn't know and how to use a gun.

at first i must admit it was a slow flick, but i like these movies where the point of view changes from one character to another with their own little side stories, only to find that they are all really connected.

this is a fun movie that deals with the reality of guns in the united states and how harmful they can be in the wrong hands. a terrific message put to use in a very strange story...i give it two thumbs up in the origionality department and another two thumbs up for anna paquin, who goes from the silent and scared ROGUE in the X-MEN movie, to a trashy whore who just happens to be underage and loving it.