by Jox on 18 Apr 2013, 11:28
I saw DETENTION again a couple days ago as I was to interview one of the crew members, and I can't believe how bored I was.
Yet technically it's far from being the worst film he's done. It got good production value, good lighting and good camera moves (better than DIRECT ACTION which had less people in the camera crew headed by the same DP who did all on DA and couldn't afford to spend as much time on stylized lighting and camera operating), decent editing (although I suspect it could have worked better with less cuts and more continuous takes in some scenes because the editing gets annoying)...
But the characters are not really likable, the dialogs are too phony and on the nose (we gotta show these are rebellious tough kids so we'll make talk like puppets saying "fuck you" to each other or "who gives a shit about history". The bad guys sport ridiculous post-punk looks, the two brothers are stupid and the leader acts totally gay while making it seem he's doing his accomplice... Even the action, while not bad per say, doesn't spark your interest even when Dolph looks cool. And I'm not mentioning the ridiculous gratuitous things like the car crashing and motorcycle vs wheel chair chase in the school...
So I don't know, the script was written in the late 80s (and very surprisingly had not been victim of much re-writing in the 12-15 years it was in development and turn-over - except for the added Bosnia prologue), would have worked better then? Dolph Anyway, as it is it's just hard to care and I stand by the fact that with less budget and being more minimalist, DIRECT ACTION is far more likable and looks like masterpiece next to it.