Saturday's Netflix & chill - Loris S. Musumeci
Let's face it, more than a disastrous film, it's first and foremost a scam. The Last Days of American Crime summary promises a thought-provoking on-ne-peut-plus current, on-ne-peut-plus thrilling. The United States of the near future has decided to completely and radically eradicate crime from its territory. To achieve this, the authorities are developing API antennas in every state. These emit waves that incapacitate the body whenever a person is about to commit a violent or illegal act. When the heart of today's world is dominated by such vital concerns as the spread of 5G antennas, police violence and the totalitarian allure of the post-Covid world, well, such a synopsis is intriguing. It makes you want to watch.
First problem. The two hours and nineteen minutes - nineteen minutes would have been more than enough time for such a debacle - deal little or not at all with the problem of these famous antennas. Except, awkwardly, in the last quarter-hour, when the director must have thought, poor fellow, that he was making a mess of things. The televisions, very present, also address the issue. Always on a 24-hour news channel, we have journalists or politicians repeating the same thing over and over again. At least it's funny. It goes something like this:
«- So what do you think of API, isn't it a great freedom-depriving operation?
- Ah, no, I don't agree with you...»
Two minutes into the film, another screen, again on the same channel, where another journalist is debating with another politician:
«- The API will be activated in two days, don't you think we're going to hinder the freedoms of our fellow citizens?
- Your question is very interesting, but you know, I don't think...»
And so on...
I don't get it
Second problem: you can't understand the script or the characters. I understood everything about’Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings to confuse people's minds, I love films with open theses like a Shutter Island or a Inception with DiCaprio - the kind of films that disturb, that you don't understand right away, but that leave you pondering for years after their release. But here, I just don't get it.
In fact, the main character kills a lot of people, even though it's clear that they're not his closest friends. Then, he wants to avenge the memory of his brother, who allegedly committed suicide in prison. Next, he goes to a bar, gets turned on by a girl, then rapes her. Then he wants to kill a guy, but the girl he raped two minutes before interferes because she's actually the fiancée of the guy who's about to die. So far, so exciting!
Then it gets even more awesome and even more incomprehensible. The main character allies himself with the guy he wanted to kill - and with his girl, too, by the way. But this new ally is a bit of a weirdo with an equally weird dad, so he goes to his dad's mansion with his new ally - so the main character, if you're still following me - and snogs his sister, only to go to his dad's office and take an axe to his face. Charming. But I forgot to tell you too that the daughter of the trio, alternately screwed by her two boyfriends, collaborates with the FBI, because she has a little sister we know nothing about, and because she had a difficult childhood... «My stepfather beat me, so I learned not to trust anyone.» Oh yeah, sniff sniff, too much pain in this world...
Oh yes, two more points from the script just for a good laugh. The trio, in addition to being absurd in themselves, want to rob a bank, and they manage it very easily. But the thing is, once the API has been activated, the money, we're informed without being told why, will be worthless. Finally, the main character takes endless bullets, remains locked in a burning caravan, but never dies. Except at the very end: he moves, but it's too much. cute, because he dies just after exchanging a final kiss with the girl he raped at the start of the film. All this in a truck, in Canada, under a sunset. I almost cried.
The third problem is that even the action sequences are nonsense. That's all that's left to make this film worth watching. But no, nothing. Unrealistic, totally exaggerated and frankly kitsch, They're carried along by pitiful acting, and the set is sickening. I'll stop here, I'll stop the massacre. The film is already a victim of itself. In The Last Days of American Crime, a crime against cinema. Let's hope that the film also lives out its last days, and that Netflix considers dropping it from its list. As for French director Olivier Megaton, at least he can be sure of doing better next time.
Write to the author: loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com
Photo credits: © Netflix
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