A shovel full of Dashiell Hammett, with a touch of Orson Welles, David Lynch and Frank Miller or something. All that looking overly ambitious but not being able to shake off a slight b-movie feel. If that sounds complicated you might be right. However, The Big Bang (imdb) is a surprisingly interesting under-the-radar type film, that starts out like a Kammerspiel and develops into a neo film noir detective story with some sci-fi twists and femmes fatales.
While the interplay between Antonio Banderas, who pulls of quite the character actor in this one, Thomas Kretschmann, who can’t quite shake off his German accent, William Fichtner, who overacts and disappoints even though I would put him into the category of great actors that are underappreciated, and Delroy Lindo, who trieds to play Get Shorty but comes across as rather boring, is initially exciting and gets a bit more complex towards the end, the lonesome adventures of Banderas’ character cannot quite carry the movie. It is the gravitas of Sam Elliot that eventually adds some specialty to the movie, and the beauty of Sienna Guillory, which balances the ragged looks of the rest of the crook characters in the film. Nobody quite knows what the bizarre cameos of James van der Beek are supposed to do, or that of Snoop Dogg. But even writing these lines reminds me that in fact this is quite the ensemble cast, and if you look beyond the acting, there are a range other worthy aspects to be mentioned. Check out the trailer posted further below.
For one, the film noir type detective story that works, were it not a frame for a rather bizarre story, and some of the crazy stories and lurid subject matters that add some, well, kink to the movie. It looks really nice and I don’t blame the director for laying it on a bit too thick. The movie might have profited from another pair of eyes providing feedback and some audience testing maybe. But the good thing is that we are now stuck with a movie that is quite refreshing and has some furiously entertaining moments in it. It is rough around the edges, and I like that in a movie mostly. Which other movie has a giant, a Spanish-speaking film noir detective, a nympho femme fatale, a cross dresser and the Large Hadron Collider all in one? I suggest you give this movie a try, maybe as a midnight guilty pleasure or beer and nachos evening with some friends.
Interestingly the movie is actually about a guy who fell in love with a stunning woman he only knew from letters he received in jail, a private eye who tries to track her down, and a maniac who tries to solve the world’s biggest question. Big topics for a small flick, and the trailer doesn’t even quite capture how much the movie struggles to get all those grand stories under one roof. But at least it has gunfights, cool cars, nice scenery, sex and decent music.
Here’s an interesting external review worth reading (click here), arguing that the movie is proof that not everyone can be a Tarantino.
