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Cinematic Releases: The Empty Man (2020) - Reviewed
The
graphic novel has generally made for some incredible and daring big screen
cinema or televised adaptations over the last decade, including but not limited
to A History of Violence and Oldboy. Nine times out of ten a hit comes out of the
illustrated book form. In the case of The
Empty Man, however, based on the Boom! Studios graphic novel of the same
name by writer Cullen Bunn and artist Vanesa R. Del Rey, the film which came of
it was completed in 2017 only to sit on the shelf for another three years
before being dumped into empty theaters in 2020 amid the COVID-19
pandemic.
What
happened here? On the surface it looks
like another modern supernatural thriller about an ex-cop named James (James
Badge Dale) still coping with witnessing the death of his wife and son who
stumbles upon a mercurial occult group attempting to summon a demon. Upon diving into the film itself, this is
without question one of the weirdest, most labyrinthine cinematic rail jumpers
in recent memory that is easy to see why studio heads got cold feet upon first
looking at it.
Running
at a startlingly long 137 minutes with more detours and red herrings than Under
the Silver Lake with the rug yanked out from under the viewer more than
once, this is a film that takes many chances but doesn’t always succeed or
deliver. Part of the problem is that it
condenses the series of graphic novels into one piece and one must wonder if
the endeavor might have been fleshed out more successfully as a television
miniseries.
The
Empty Man
isn’t without its merits, boasting an evocative and disturbing soundtrack
co-written by Hellraiser legend Christopher Young and Lustmord. The score frankly sounds a lot like Akira
Yamaoka’s nerve-jangling score for the Silent Hill videogames which I
suppose fits considering the surreal nature of this film. Visually the film sports a lot of scenic
beauty and expertly rendered tracking shots while other times the camera
resorts to distorting the space with fish eyed lenses. Performances are fine though James Badge Dale
despite being a good character actor may or may not be leading man material. It doesn’t help that a brief cameo by Stephen
Root manages to steal the whole show.
While
the film is laudable for pushing such strange ideas and narrative concepts that
don’t always make clear sense into the mainstream, the film itself is bloated
and tends to meander towards its bleak conclusion. Yes there are worthy ideas here and the
graphic novel is well worth reading. Let
it be known this is director David Prior’s first feature, having mostly worked
in making-of documentaries for David Fincher.
To go from behind-the-scenes documentaries to mounting your own feature
film are very different endeavors and while it can be done, one wonders after
viewing the mess that is The Empty Man whether or not Prior made the
right choice. The film is indeed
fascinating but I’m hard pressed to agree whether or not the thing actually “works”.
--Andrew Kotwicki