'WRECKED' (2010)




- A review by Richard Harrison (2010)


It’s odd that a technique (in this case hand-held camera) once largely eschewed by filmmakers should now be seen as one symbol of being ‘edgy’. Wrecked is, of course, not the first film to abandon the tripod and favour the steady (or unsteady) guiding hand of the cameraman, but it is very obviously used here in the way it is not so obvious in other films. In fact, the slurring of the camera at times goes beyond the establishing of a particular approach to become just plain annoying, detracting as it does from the unorthodox story the film seeks to tell.

Wrecked is an unusual film, but one that, for all its vaunted smashing of taboos, is ultimately not as satisfying as its premise might suggest. Ryan, a would-be actor who sees his world radically altered when ex. Daniel turns up and brings his drug habit with him, is brilliantly portrayed by Forth Richards- surely an actor destined for great success. His strength as an actor lies in a combination of vulnerability and plausibility- most of the other cast members look uncomfortable in whatever roles they have been assigned but Richards lives his and makes the character of Ryan the one to which we, the audience, latch onto. In a film such as Wrecked, the target audience does not necessarily have to be a niche one. A film like Sugar, for example, stretches its magic far beyond any stereotypical notions of a ‘target audience’ (a positively silly term in the first place), but Wrecked does not, and that is where its shortcomings lie.

Overall, Wrecked is a movie that simply does not have enough going for it. Its mixture of hard drug use, nudity and sex are not in themselves repellent, but it is the general air of vacuous-ness that hangs over the film that makes it unsatisfying. Films do not need to be a continual round of action-packed incidents, but, if they are not, they must do something else- whether it be build character, arouse curiosity or inspire thought. Sadly, for this critic Wrecked did none of these. 'Wrecked' is available on DVD from TLA Releasing.

TLA Releasing website


Back

Home