Highly Overrated But Still Good

Admirable film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Blistering performances.

This one has many things going for itself. First, let's start with the beginning of the film: implied cinematography, exasperation reaching its pinnacle of the main character himself immediately introduced to the audience rather than a whole introductory sequence making cinematic small talk with its public to establish how things go from daily routine to disaster. We get to know the character as the movie develops, and other secondary characters intentionally or unintentionally uncover who he is; no need for the film to stop and spell out who lead character Michael Douglas is and why he's the way he is, the film instead grows into the explanation in and of itself with each poignant scene building a crescendo overtime and unravelling its plot.Another thing is Michael Douglas is one of the most underrated lead actors of the 90's as he's often considered for everything else but his acting (son of Hollywood superstar Kirk Douglas, being a producer, etc...), and is excellent yet again here. He's totally committed to the role, plays it like his character was real down to the smaller details: for example, he easily could've played his character displaying too much confidence but he manages to convey that he's middle-class and a goodie two shoes gone rogue, the ambiguity and fracture of his character transpires which makes for a pleasant and enticing, nuanced viewing.Another thing is it's very well paced. As explained in the first paragraph, the opening scene blitzes right past the viewer and constitutes one of the smoother intros for its genre/for its time, but as the film advances it never seems to go off track or lose momentum, it just keeps building in intensity and keeps focus on what it's trying to say and what it means to be as a viewing experience. Totally coherent. If you don't like it 30min in, you probably won't like it at all; conversely, if you like it 30min, you'll like it til the last bit.Lastly, the film manages to do really well at surely the most important thing in cinema: be as much entertainment as it is making a commentary on a particular social/political/philosophical issue. It isn't another neutral, mindless 90's action flick starring what's his face: it takes a stand and points out the terrible dysfunction of modern America, but balances that with the entertainment value. You don't want to have to sit through some politically biased tripe for 2 hours either, you want to watch a good movie.

This is a great movie that really makes you think. Michael Douglas is a defense contractor who gets fired then snaps. He's a conservative type who is sick and tired of all the things that annoy most people in everyday life, but goes to extreme fighting them. From fast food joints that stop serving breakfast at 10am on the dot to convenience stores that refuse to give people change for the phone and rich jerks dressed like idiots on golf courses who think they own the world. It's darkly funny but also a great drama that makes us think about things we sometimes take for granted. Great performance by Douglas here. Duvall is also good, and I usually don't like him as an actor.

Whether you enjoyed this movie or not, you can't deny that at some point in your life, you will or you've already related to our anti- hero protagonist. You will face problems everyday, problems of all sizes, minor or major, and they will absolutely annoy you to the brink of losing your sanity.Of course, every person will take it differently. Falling Down showed us how even a simple and decent human being could get frustrated by the obvious, gaping flaws of society.I think it's safe to say that there is no coherent story, it's just about our main protagonist "D-Fens" (Michael Douglas) who's trying to get home for his daughter's birthday who was taken from him by his divorced wife. And he faces a plethora of obnoxious problems on the way which slow him down. Sounds pretty horrible and boring when you put it on paper, but this is a perfect example of a movie that's driven by dialogue and characters rather than an exciting plot.You will feel all sorts of emotions while watching this due to the actions done and words spoken by our main character. At times you will feel this movie was a black satirical comedy, and at other times you will feel that this is almost like a fictional documentary about how foul our society is becoming.I've seen this movie many times, and it feels like it gets better every time I watch it. 10/10

We've all had bad days. And oftentimes, a day that starts out horrible just keeps getting worse, snowballing into a really awful day. This is how 1993's crime thriller, 'Falling Down' begins. Directed by Joel Schumacher & taken place on, one of the hottest days in Los Angeles, California's history; the film written by Ebbe Roe Smith, the film tells the story of an defense worker, William Foster (Michael Douglas) trying to get home for his daughter's birthday party, only to get frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society, which starts to unravel him, until he suffer from a major to psychotically and violently unstable mental breakdown. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, that, the English Hard Rock Band, Iron Maiden got it right with this man. He was truly on the edge, with each step gets closer to losing his head. Even if, we can't condone his extreme actions, as least, some of us, can relate to the issues, he had to deal with. Everybody, at least, had one of these days. If you can't relate to his struggles, as least, you can understand, the frustrations that Det. Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall), had to deal with on his last day on the force on figuring out the mystery, who is this madman, is all about. Both of these character's stories, make 'Falling Down', a very intriguing, yet challenging movie, worth watching. Added to that, is the wonderful use of music by James Newton Howard that set the mood, and powerful visual cinematography from Andrzej Bartkowiak under Schumacher's direction. Sunny LA has never look, so bleak and hopeless, before. Great use of desaturated and low tech camera-work and shooting at rundown locations. Also great use of symbolism and metaphors throughout the film, like the running use of the lyrics of 'London Bridge' & others. However, I do have to say, the film isn't with some faults & I'm not talking about the minor nitpicking goofs. I'm talking about how the film was notorious criticize by critics at the time, for its treatment of minorities; mostly with how they show Korean and Latino Americans as thugs. It got so bad, that Warner Brothers canceled the release of 'Falling Down' in South Korea & certain Latin America countries following boycott threats. In my opinion, while I can understand the reasons, why minorities groups like Korean & Latino American Coalition got anger. After all, the film was made, during and released just after the 1992 Los Angeles Riot where Koreans and Latinos were targeted by police and looters. In truth, there was plenty of positive, Hispanic & Asian Americans characters in the film, like Detective Brian (Steve Park) & Detective Sandra Torres (Rachel Ticotin). Both characters were played by Korean and Latina performers. If anything, if you look at the majority of negatively characters, throughout the film. Most of them, were portray with white actors. Plus, as a minority, the portrayal weren't as bad, as people back then, make it out to be. Compare to other films back then, it's pretty tame. I just think, these groups are just missing the point. The film is trying to tackle the struggles, of trying to get along, despite cultural differences, language as well, as the economic conditions, in which, many of us, Americans, lived under. Honestly, if there is any real faults for this film, it wouldn't be their use of harsh-language & violence; if anything, it would be, due to the fact, that the film couldn't stop itself, being label as the negative 'angry white racism man' movie. While, on the surface, the film might look like the stereotypically disproportionally portrayal of an older White Americans, having animosity toward minorities; in truth, the film is nothing like that. We sees, throughout the film, William Foster getting along with a number of minorities. Some good examples are the 'Under Construction' scene, where a young unnamed black kid (Valentino Harrison) teach him, how to use a bazooka and the scene with the not economically viable man (Vondie Curtis-Hall). There is even, a scene where Foster disagree with a Neo-Nazi Surplus Store Owner (Frederic Forrest) about race. Because of that, I can't say, Foster is a racism character, nor can I say the movie glorifies lawbreaking. Of course, we see many elements of our society that contributed to his madness. However, the movie never condones his actions as the right thing to do. He's never the hero. If anything, Robert Duvall's character, is. Despite that, I do have to say, portrayal Foster is probably the best role, Michael Douglas has done, since 1987's 'Wall Street'. You really do see, the unbalance nature of his character, trying to figure out, what is right and what is wrong in a world that he views is upside down. You see his alienation, disgust and mounting rage against what he perceives to be an increasingly unfair and depersonalized world. However, I can't say, the same with Robert Duvall's character. His performance was a bit, too similar to the role, he played in 1988's 'Colors'; still interesting, but in the end, he really didn't stand out as much as Douglas does. After all, Douglas's character inspired the creation of the one-episode character Frank Grimes from The Simpsons 23th episode "Homer's Enemy," on Season 8 and received a parodic homage song in Foo Fighters' video for "Walk". In the end, the dark comedy of this movie really does payoff; both tragedy and humorous. Either way, it's a film that inspires quite a bit of discussion and debate. That's one thing, I love about this movie. It makes you think. Depending on who you ask, this film is either social commentary on the dangers of capitalism, and the ignorance of the citizen under it or the call to arms for conservatism against the dangers of liberalism. All these arguments have merit and it could be any of this. That's why, this is one movie that is worth seeing.