What I'm Watching: God Bless America
The watchathon continues!
This is a little different though, since GBA is very much NOT a horror movie. Or any of our usual genres. But I justify it in three ways:
- It does have a heavy body count and a ton of blood.
- It is a similar take to one of my all-time favourite movies, Falling Down.
- It's my damned website, and I'll talk about what I want!
GBA is the story of Frank, a man who is fed up with life. His neighbours drive him insane, especially the crying baby he describes as a nocturnally activated air raid siren. His job is hell, until he gets fired. He can't stand the state of people and the media and the news these days. This is ALL very resonant to the country today.
He has fantasies of killing all these annoyances, much like we all do and never act upon, but once he gets the news that he has an inoperable brain tumour, Frank says fuck it and goes to take out a girl from one of those "My Super Sweet Sixteen" style reality shows. Along the way he picks up a fellow student of his first victim, and discovers a kindred spirit in such a young person, and takes her along for the ride.
After his first victim, Frank seems at a loss for how to proceed, but he eventually finds more victims. People who talk in movie theatres. Purported newsmen who only spew out fear, jargon, and sound bites, and the entire workforce involved with the movie's parody of American Idol.
Pretty much every idiot that has ever pissed you off gets their comeuppance in this movie. That guy who took up two parking spaces? Dead. Religious protesters? Dead. Judges on (Not) American Idol? Dead. It is the ultimate modern day revenge fantasy, and Frank lives it out for all of us frustrated Americans.
I FREAKING LOVE THIS MOVIE.
I echo a lot of Frank's sentiments. I'm sure we all do. And having a movie come out and do something about them is a GREAT release right now. This is a more comedic take on the whole Falling Down idea of a regular guy snapping due to the world being crazy is a good idea, and the world has only gotten worse since D-FENS spread his reign of terror across the screen.
At the end of the day, Falling Down has more heart, but GBA is still really good, and should be enjoyed by fans of that movie, despite being funnier, and maybe being a bit on the nose and heavy handed with its message. But Frank is so sincere in how he delivers it, you still go along with it.
It is amazing how you can sympathise with this killer, and the fact that we all have these thoughts helps, and Frank's own self-depricating humour does too. The writing is sharp, and delivered by a great cast. My only complaint is that Frank is maybe too preachy about how wrong everything is. He says how all we do is regurgitate what we hear, and in some ways, I think Frank is doing the same, since he doesn't quite bring anything new to the table.
I laughed a lot during this movie, and SO many lines are quotable. This is the sort of black humour I kept expecting Some Guy Who Kills People to deliver, and never quite got there. This is an easy recommendation.
