O Ritual

First - it takes WAY too long for this movie to get going.

Second - I believe in respecting all cultures, but this movie was so ridiculous (talking sock puppet), that I don't know how any Native American could be offended by any representations in the film.

Now, college professors and students look pretty stupid.

There ARE some pretty amusing moments.

Most from Christian Slater.

Although I felt all the actors did a great job, the material?

I wouldn't waste my time.

The "4" is because I actually made it through.

THE FINAL RITES (aka RITES OF PASSAGE) is a very strange little movie. It involves a group of high school students who are being taught about esoteric Native American drugs by their slick teacher. One of the students has an elder brother who experiments with these narcotics, which turns him into a psychopath. Inevitably a group of the students go away for the weekend for a beach holiday and find themselves being menaced by all and sundry.

There's a definite sense here that the story was being made up as they went along. Certainly it seems to make little sense and by the end it's fallen apart entirely, so the "narrative" consists of characters killing each other off until only the final survivors are left. The first half of the film, which is the build up, is actually mildly enjoyable, so it's a pity that the it goes absolutely nowhere come the end.

Three famous faces are mixed up in this mess. Wes Bentley plays virtually the same likable loner/weirdo character as he did in American BEAUTY. Stephen Dorff shows up as a cool teacher who's down with the kids, and strips off to show his buff body when required. Then there's an almost unrecognisable Christian Slater, hilariously playing a demented psychopath who just wants to kill everybody. His interactions with a sock puppet bring to mind the PG Tips adverts in the UK starring Johnny Vegas and Monkey. It's all very silly and relatively bloodless, meaning there's not much here for the viewers.

Attempting to visit an authentic Indian burial ground for research, a group of students partying away at the site run afoul of a demented killer looking to punish them for a past indiscretion and forcing them to fight him off to get out alive.

This here turned out to be quite a misguided effort, mainly because so much of it really doesn't gel together the way it is. The premise of turning a haunted burial ground into a slasher is quite novel and generates much of the positives toward this, but the fact that the killer is absolutely pathetic, generates no fear or suspense from his physical appearance since he's essentially a homeless person for all intents and purposes and runs around with a shotgun, not a true slasher weapon which relegates all the kills to gunshot wounds or merciless pounding with a foreign object, greatly reducing the gore quotient here that could've saved this. The constant drug use allows for a few freaky hallucinations from time-to-time but the vast majority of the time nothing substantial happens during the trip, rendering it quite curious as to why it was featured as it was and why there was a huge furor from the characters to include it, so overall this has way too many problems. Even more ridiculous is the animated talking sock puppet giving the lead advice, a tactic that tries to make this a comedy but fails miserably as it comes off as incredibly lame more than anything, and it really only has a few isolated individual moments where it approaches watchability to make this enticing.

Rated R: Continuous pervasive drug use, Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Brief Nudity.

the notion that people would have issues "unrelated" to the themes portrayed in this movie is invalid. the very fact that this movie chose to capitalize and exploit native culture for a mere thrill factor is reason enough for some people to find it offensive and a poor representation of the native community. just because you got a couple of native people to get on board with the project in no means makes it OK nor does that small group represent first nations community of this country. and in this day and age when native Americans are being misrepresented and portrayed stereotypically left and right it's no surprise that this movie would once again portray native people in a stereotypical misrepresented manner. the problem is this American society that we live in doesn't find it necessary to really educate themselves about our culture or way of life unless it serves them in some way, i.e learning enough to make a believable thrasher film. because if this society did truly educate themselves they would acquire enough respect and dignity that they wouldn't exploit an already damaged culture that has been almost completely eradicated in the name of the American dream. but of course this film represents America, Hollywood, where nothing is sacred. everything is exploited for a buck and entertainment. so while you go ahead and exercise your rights at the expense of others, just remember why you chose to do it. not to educate people about a culture and a people, it was to entertain with blood murder, drugs and Indians.

Peter Iliff has come a long way since his first successful screenplay, Point Break. His new film, Rites of Passage, is a complete departure from the Hollywood norm. The film focuses around a group of friends in Santa Barbara who take a lot of drugs and trip out on some ranch. The film is clearly directed towards a younger audience, and for the budget they were given, I think they did a great job. There isn't much past the surface of the film, but it works great as a popcorn thriller that I enjoyed with my friends. It was great to see all of the recognizable spots around Isla Vista and SB where Rites of Passage was shot. Would I watch it again? Maybe not. But it was certainly an entertaining and relevant film for a college student like myself.