Falling Down (DVD)

From its opening shot which gradually pulls back from an extreme close up of Michael Douglas' nose to reveal a claustrophobic city baking in the heat of summer, Falling Down sets itself up as a different film, one which places as much store on atmosphere as action. It's difficult to say too much about the plot without giving too much away, but suffice to say it sees the enigmatically named D-FENS (after his car registration) undertake the seemingly simple task of trying to get home and suffering a REALLY bad day. As mentioned above, Falling Down is a very atmospheric film. Director Joel Schumacher - not always one of my favourite directors - does an ...  Read the complete review

The tag line for this film is "A tale of urban reality" which captures the essence of it quite well. The film begins on a boiling hot day. The anti-hero Bill Foster (played by Michael Douglas) is stuck in a traffic jam. Cars honking, rude bumper stickers, insects and broken window winders begin to incense him. The director's use of quick shots and various angles capture the pressure cooker rage boiling inside him. "I'm going home!" he announces, abandoning his car. In stark contrast, we next meet a cop (played by Robert Duvall) who is also stuck in the jam. He sees some graffiti and starts laughing. This is the first time ...  Read the complete review

In 1993 Joel Schumacher directed the paranoid urban tale of 'D-FENS', a character whose primary concern is to make it back in time for his daughter's birthday. However, along the way this white, middle-class, shirt and tie wearing everyman discovers that his journey is rapidly developing into a nightmare. Michael Douglas is cast as the person losing his moral balance and being at war with the everyday world. At first, we see him sweating in traffic and losing patience so much so that he abandons his car on the freeway and declares "I'm going home." Next, he heads for the phone box to tell his ex-wife the news. A phone call is simple ...  Read the complete review

A film that expresses a brooding, western paranoia about the vast, sprawling menace of a modern, wayward society........ It contains a keen disillusionment, a real sense of being lost or at odds with society.......('at war with the everyday world')......where a psychological conflict is presented sympathetically, drawing on an emotion that all of us must have felt at some time; that of fear towards a threatening world unable to contain itself. Michael Douglas is on top form in portraying the futile rebellion and latent angst of the loose cannon 'D-fens', whose temper and distress can be ignited at any time in the confrontations he falls into. This ...  Read the complete review

I can't believe that it is 10 years since I first saw this film at the cinema. How times change! I was a teenager then, and I think I took the film at face value without really thinking about the message it was trying to convey. I added this film to my collection about three years ago, and to be honest, I had not even opened it until I was at a loose end last weekend, and the options on television did not look too appealing, so I decided to watch this. Michael Douglas is the star of the film, and 90% of the on screen action involves him. He looks older in this film than he does now, and that may have something to do with the pretty severe haircut he has ...  Read the complete review