'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
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