Hoping to cut the cost of a cross-country trip during which they plan to research a book on serial killers, Brian (David Duchovny) and Carrie (Michelle Forbes) look around for potential traveling companions. The only people to respond are Early (Brad Pitt) and Grace (Juliette Lewis), bumpkins who are as different from Brian and Carrie as they could possibly be. Unbeknownst to Brian and Carrie, Early is himself a serial killer, and it’s only a matter of time before his homicidal tendencies rear their ugly head.

CRITIQUE

Kalifornia works for some people, but not for me. This has nothing to do with the fact that the characters are supposed to be on a cross-country trip but virtually every place they stop is located in central Georgia, or the fact that I really wish Juliette Lewis would retire from acting. No, it has more to do with the fact that I find the movie obvious and boring, sort of an unsuccessful hayseed riff on Straw Dogs. Kalifornia has something to say, but it does so in an incredibly stupid, heavy-handed way. The fact that I happen agree with what the movie says changes nothing for me.

Here’s what the movie has to say: Some behavior cannot be explained. Pitt’s character is evil, plan and through. You can psychoanalyze him all you want, but it will be wasted effort. This guy simply is what he is; there are no mommy and daddy issues in his past to explain why he is what he is. But the movie makes this point by turning Pitt into an indestructible killing machine, a Hollywood version of a psychopath. He can stab a guy in the neck repeatedly and walk away without a spot of blood on his clothes, and bury another guy in an open grave and make it so that firefighters putting out a nearby blaze somehow don’t manage to see (much less fall in) this grave until the most dramatic point possible. The character is meant to be odious and frightening, but he’s too lacking in credibility to be either.

Because the Pitt character isn’t credible, the other characters are required to be stupid, so stupid they can’t see him for what he is. Forbes isn’t quite as dumb as Duchovny, eventually coming to suspect something is up with Pitt and voicing her concerns to Duchovny (but never doing what any sensible human being would do, which is hop on the first Greyhound back home [although I suppose any truly sensible human being wouldn’t have agreed to the trip in the first place]). Duchovny is incredibly stupid, choosing to believe Forbes is exhibiting a buried class prejudice when she voices her concerns. Why does he ignore the pleas of the woman he shares a bed with and give the benefit of the doubt to this obviously off hillbilly he barely knows? Because Duchovny’s character is the sort of bleeding-heart liberal who makes genuinely compassionate bleeding-heart liberals look like totalitarians by comparison. This is a guy who would likely argue that Hitler, had he been captured, deserved rehabilitation, or that Timothy McVeigh should have been sent to a halfway house. He’s so extreme in his views that he’s just as laughable as Pitt’s character.

You see those two characters in the same story and you can pretty much guess where it’s going to go, and that’s exactly where Kalifornia goes. The whole thing comes down to a climax that wouldn’t be out of place in a dumb slasher flick (thank God he’s dead...wait, he’s not really dead!), which is a pretty stupid move for a movie that purportedly has something on its mind. It’s the sort of scene that could derail what up until that point was a genuinely good movie, but in this case it’s pretty much what you’d expect.

Kalifornia was the feature debut for director Dominic Sena, and like most of his movies, this one has some serious pacing issues. It will drag for what seems like forever, then pick up for what seems like a scant few minutes, then switch back to creeping along. I’ve seen all four of Sena’s features (maybe one day I’ll wise up) and I keep wondering why he picks projects that just cry out for a fast pace and refuses to imbue them with the necessary energy and drive. I just don’t get it.

Quick note: The DVD release of Kalifornia contained both the theatrical cut and an unrated cut that ran three minutes longer and featured a bit more violence and sex. This Blu-ray features only the unrated version.

THE VIDEO

Given that this is a no-frills release of a somewhat obscure catalog title, the 2.35:/1080p transfer--encoded with AVC onto a 50GB disc--looks far better than I was expecting. The image is very film-like, and it proves to be quite an upgrade over the DVD. Blacks can be just a little weak at times, and the odd shot here and there can be soft compared to those that surround it; there’s also evidence of wear and tear in the source elements, but nothing severe. 

THE AUDIO

Not a whole lot of effort went into remixing the original stereo mix for this disc’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, which features a front-heavy sound that only makes sparing use of the surrounds. The low end is weak, even for a movie of this age. Dialogue generally sounds okay, although Duchovny’s narration sounds awful; it’s supposed to sound like it’s coming from a tape recorder, but in this case it sounds as if the tape recorder is sitting at the bottom of a well. A French DTS 5.1 track is also included; English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitle are available.

THE EXTRAS

The sole extra on the Blu-ray disc is an HD presentation of the movie’s trailer. This package also includes the previously released DVD version of the movie, a flipper disc that contains both cuts of the movie (in wide- and full-screen transfers). The DVD also includes the movie’s theatrical trailer as well as a short promotional featurette.

FINAL THOUGHTS

To describe Kalifornia as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer by way of Friday the 13th would be an insult to both those movies.