Sea Minus

I recently watched the 2002 film The Salton Sea, starring Val Kilmer. It's vaguely a film noir, in that the main character is a narrator and that there is a bit of a mystery in play, but it's more of a "drug haze" movie. The subject wasn't of particular interest to me, but I had heard some positive reviews of it -- and in particular, heard that Val Kilmer was very good in it.

It turns out that the film has a pretty significant twist in the plot. A couple, arguably. It's not necessarily a "twist ending," but it does unfortunately play out that way, because the turn is held back until the onset of the final act. And I found that a shame, because frankly, I found the film a bit boring up to that point.

Up to that point, the film really is nothing more than a drug haze movie, a Blow or a Requiem for a Dream. I at least liked it more than the latter of those films. Requiem for a Dream relied heavily on crazy camera work and rapid editing to convey the world of drug use, where The Salton Sea doesn't need to stoop to tricks. It relies on the solid performances of Kilmer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Peter Sarsgaard, and others. The acting requires no trickery to sell the environment.

But when the real truth of the story arrives -- and I think I can say this without actually spoiling too much -- the film is revealed to be a revenge story. It's far more compelling. The movie becomes less "diorama" and more "story," and is infinitely better for it. But I confess that I'd been driven past the point of no return by then. I'd already become bored, and a strong ending wasn't going to completely save the experience for me.

Not completely, anyway. It certainly turned it around to a place where, though I wouldn't really recommend the film, I wouldn't call it "bad" either. I'd grade it about a C- overall. I'd much rather the script had just laid all the cards on the table early to draw the audience in, rather than try to keep us guessing.