Review for Falling Down

Director: Joel Schumacher

Released: 1993

Genre: Pitch Black Comedy/Drama

Years ago, I would routinely peruse the shelves of video cassettes in a now defunct Blockbuster outlet. One time, I came upon the sleeve for Joel Schumacher's 1993 film Falling Down. I remember being mesmerized by the cover image; it had Michael Douglas wearing horn rimmed glasses and a nicely pressed business suit, standing atop a pile of rubble, and holding a briefcase in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Such an awe inspiring sight immediately piqued my interest, and I asked my parents if we could rent that instead of Tremors. They gave me a resolutely negative response, and I soon gave up trying to watch it- but that mental picture of Michael Douglas being a badass never quite left my mind.

Well, over a decade later, I have finally taken the time to see Falling Down- and I must say, the film is not as memorable as the indelible poster art that so successfully promoted it. Granted, my expectations were fairly high; I expected Schumacher's film to be a cult gem, something along the lines of Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, but was instead shown a somewhat superior version of the first Death Wish movie. Honestly, I was somewhat disappointed.

Falling Down opens with a very dapper looking Michael Douglas stuck in a horrendous traffic jam. Flies are buzzing around, people are yelling at one another, and his air conditioning has just given out. After looking around and sizing up the situation, Douglas just snaps- he leaves his car where it is and walks into the adjacent bushes. We soon find out that he is on his way to his daughter's birthday party, as he embarks on a treacherous walk from East Los Angeles to Venice Beach. 

Along the way, Douglas becomes more and more violent, and gradually upgrades his weapons stash as he lashes out at perceived injustices. First, he assaults a convenience store clerk, and takes the man's baseball bat; soon after he uses the bat to attack a pair of menacing gang members, and takes one of their switch blades. The gangsters eventually track Douglas down and commit a drive by shooting, but accidently kill everyone on the street except him. As they flee the scene, they crash into a row of parked cars, and Douglas takes their gym bag full of guns. From there the conflicts escalate until an intrepid police officer (played by Robert Duvall) finally tracks Douglas down.

Falling Down is not a bad film, just a conflicted one; it is not sure if it wants to be a pitch black comedy or a humanizing drama. During the first half of the movie, Michael Douglas is just an average joe who has had enough- anyone could snap in the same situation, and then rationalize their acts of violence as they go on some pseudo moralistic rampage. That is exactly what Douglas initially does in Falling Down, and the movie manages to be funny without providing any reason for him going nuts. Later on, however, we are shown Douglas' family, and eventually the motives behind his irrational actions- Schumacher tries to put a face on the gratuitous violence, showing Douglas as a good person that was just wronged by society. It does a lot to cancel out the visceral force the previous scenes carried; a good amount of character development should have been provided in the beginning, or not at all- either decision would have resulted in a much different, but more cohesive work. 

Personally, I would have preferred Douglas going vigilante for no definable reason but to lash out at society's ills. Everything would be left to interpretation as to why he went bonkers; he did not need to be human for Falling Down to work. Still, seeing Douglas in a suit and tie as he shoots up a fast food restaurant for not serving him breakfast is unarguably priceless.

2.75/4.00