Movie Review: Southland Tales

When you pick up the DVD of Southland Tales it looks like many other movies. It has pictures of various actors and actresses you already know (Dwayne Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Justin Timberlake), photos of scenes with explosions, pretty girls, and the promise of sex and violence.

In a normal action movie there is a hero, a villain, and a plot of some sort that is quite linear and easy to follow.

While "Southland Tales" has sexual connotations (the most notable being a computer animation of two cars having sex) and some violence, it is nothing like any "normal" action movie.

The plot centers on Boxer Santaros, played by Dwayne Johnson. Santaros is an actor, with some political ties. He's recently found himself on a beach with no memory of how he got there, or his place in the world. Krysta Now, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, the porn star turned TV host, and entrepreneur fills him in.

Much of the plotline of "Southland Tales" happens behind the scenes. We never see Krysta Now actually telling him what's going on, though he asks her later on if she's telling him the truth about everything, and through his actions later we get the gist of what she told him.

We do know a few things. World War 3 started, centering in the Middle East. Oil has become harder to get so everyone has turned to new power sources, and the new comer on the market is Liquid Karma, a perpetual fuel created by ocean currents using quantum tangles and... well they gloss over the science but it certainly sounds interesting from the little snippet they give you.

We also know that there are factions in the US who claim to be Neo-Marxists, and they are bent on creating some upheaval in the natural order of things.

Santaros unwittingly finds himself smack dab in the middle of all of the upheaval, used as a pawn by one group, and as an experiment by another, with his memory slowly coming back.

And while he is trying to figure out exactly what is going on, so are we. There is so much going on, so many people with their own agendas, and so many people turning on each other that you have to pay close attention to every moment. Even the news broadcasts with text extras and picture in picture have so much to offer that you aren't always sure where to look. My suggestion: Everywhere!

There is also a heavy element of religious overtones to this movie. Quotes from Revelation are thrown in at key moments, and many aspects reflect apocalyptic ideas in very subtle ways, though in ways no other movie has dared to do before.

"Southland Tales" is called by one reviewer a work of art, and in some ways I agree. It may appear to be a jumbled confusion at first glance, but if you take a step back and think about everything going on you see there really is a rhythm to everything, a world and a rational behind every scene.

"Southland Tales" really isn't for those who just want a quick watch. It really needs a closer look, and maybe a second watch to get all there is from the movie.