Classified as a drama, horror, romance. Stars Suki Waterhouse (Arlen), Jason Mamoa (Miami Man), Keanu Reeves (The Dream), Jim Carey (The Hermit) and Written and Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour
Winner of the special jury prize at Venice Film Festival
IMDB: 5.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 47% w/ audience score of 30%
This was a strange movie, even for me. I came across it on a Facebook video expedition. Where bored me watched endlessly through a wormhole of videos that have absolutely no practical application. Eventually, this popped up into my feed as one of those - look at this! but also listen to the background music first because that's how we avoid copyright issues.
The video description cited this as an apocalyptic romance. The little movie fan inside perked up at the category. They were standing and waiting in line when they read the cast line up. DUDE! Mamoa, Reeves, and Carey. Those are names I would have never put together in any film. I instantly searched for a copy. Lo and Behold, Netflix provides. I sat through this movie with a sense of anticipation at possibly finding a new under-rated gemstone.
Oh Boy....I felt like I had watched Burn after Reading all over again. (That was not a pleasant experience BTW).
I was intrigued by the aesthetic of the movie. The cinematography was beautifully done. It paired well with the mystery of the overall story. We start with sounds of what seems to be prison intake. Eventually opening up to a young girl(Waterhouse) being stranded and locked into a desolate place with a literal warning sign that "It is no longer under the jurisdiction of the United States". I wait patiently for more. Arms and legs are chopped off and eaten. Humans are literally stored for consumption. Eventually we disappear into the vast desert and come across The Dreamer (Reeves) who is part prophet/drug dealer with a harem of pregnant women wielding AK's and passing out drugs. This lonely, mute hermit walks the desert scrounging. I did not realize this was Carey. Truly, I thought it was Ron Howard re-living his acting days. Eventually the child of Miami Man (Mamoa), who is a weightlifting, man eating, artist from Cuba, goes missing inside the Dreamers compound. Arlen, who is now missing some limbs, helps to find and rescue the girl. Very little dialogue throughout the movie. I liked that. I think it gave the characters a sense of 'my business is my own'.
Not one point throughout the film did I think of Romance. Weird and twisted. Definitely so. I did however think Mamoa in his role showed a little more depth than I have previously seen in other roles (Stargate Atlantis not withstanding). Emphasis on the word little. I would like to find a role for him that is softer in a not manly man sort of way. However, him holding a meat cleaver and chopping up peeps definitely gave me pause.
I was reading some reviews from other people and I think some of them summed up the experience quite nicely.
A catapult of visual and thematic ideas without much sense, but of unquestionable magnetism.
- John Tones (Espinof)
The Bad Batch will not sit well with everyone, and it's not designed to. But it's refreshing in a summer movie season that seems agonizingly designed to please everyone all the time to watch a film that simply doesn't give a f---.
- Steven Prokopy (Third Coast Review)
The Bad Batch has a thin story and an incoherent world populated by unconvincing characters, and I felt bored and depressed watching it.
- Molly Laich (doghatesfilm.com)
I took from this movie very little except questions. Perhaps that is what the writer/director intended. Or maybe, most of the story got left on the cutting room floor. The main question for me, although odd, is just this: The actors that took on these roles, are they happy to have this in their filmography? I can say maybe yes, for Jim Carey (he's a very artistic kind of guy) and a possible for Reeves (we know he's done stranger). The others *shrugs* only they know.
FINAL VERDICT
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