Review: Thomas Jane's DARK COUNTRY
I had the awesome privilege of being able to see Thomas Jane’s new film, Dark Country at the Long Beach Comic Con. The best part is that we got to see it in 3D with Thomas Jane! If you didn’t already know, Jane both directed and starred in the film, along with Lauren German and Ron Perlman. We’ve been covering the progress of this film since we first heard about it and I’ve been looking forward to seeing this film for quite some time now.
If you’re a movie geek that likes The Twilight Zone and film noir then Dark Country is a movie I think you will really enjoy. It mixes the two types of film styles and story telling techniques extremely well. The story is fun, engaging and campy but in a good way. If it didn’t have the campiness factor to it then it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable as it was. The way the film was shot, and the style of acting that was implemented, helped enhance the world and story that Thomas Jane wanted to immerse us in.
The movie follows a recently married couple traveling to their honeymoon destination from Las Vegas. Along the way they get distracted, miss a couple of turns and get lost. As they backtrack through the heat infested desert looking for the right road, they come across a bloody unrecognizable body from a major car wreck lying in the road, his face is pretty much gone. As bad as the guy looks they find that he isn’t dead. They put the jacked up guy in the car to help him and try to get him to a hospital. It is at this point that the couple's trip turns into one hell of a fun and crazy ride with an unexpected outcome.
The film was shot beautifully! That’s one of it’s strongest qualities. Each shot was set up perfectly and looked like a work of art. It had a very clean slick feel to it that gave the film a very high quality polish. This movie has a very heavy film noir style and it’s done brilliantly. The lighting techniques and camera angles are fantastic in replicating and bringing the 1940’s and 1950’s style of filmmaking back to life. This style worked perfectly for the 3D element that the film was shot in.
I am seriously sad that you wont get to see this movie in 3D anytime soon. The 3D in the film was never used as a gimmick. It was 100% used to enhance your experience and pull you into the story. The 3D and film noir style blended perfectly! I was amazed at how awesome it looked. Hopefully one day you will get to experience Dark Country in its 3D glory. If not don’t worry, the movie will still translate well in 2D.
Dark Country was Thomas Jane’s first directing gig and he did a great job taking the script written by Tab Murphy and turning it into a visually stunning masterpiece. I would love to see him direct another film.
Dark Country is not for everybody. It starts out a little slow and is very different from what you are used to seeing at the movies, which is one of the reasons I liked it so much. It’s not afraid to be different and try something new. I recommend that you give this movie a chance when it comes out on DVD October 6th.