White Sands

I remember the first time I saw this in a video store. I thought to myself, "Willem Dafoe AND Mickey Rourke AND Samuel L. Jackson?!? Why haven't I seen this yet? It must be AWESOME!!!" Unfortunately, it turns out that it's directed by the guy who did Cocktail and Species, and I would like to have been a fly on the wall on that set, just to see what the heck happened: such an electrifying cast, and such a deadly boring film.

That poster and the cast and director had me so excited for this. But it's just not very good. Bummer.

Fine neo-noir with a surprisingly good script.

This movie is just weird. Willem Dafoe, Samuel L. Jackson and Mickey Rourke are in this together.. weird. FBI, CIA, IA.. the storyline is nothing but weird. Ms. Mastrantonio's character and her smile can only be described as weird. It's not a very good film, just.. well.. weird.

Blah

Confusing thriller of cross and double-cross that fails to sustain an interest in its many twists and turns.

One of those plots perceived by the common idiot to be brilliant. Just a randomly designed string of illogical twists.

51.000

Core material is begging for some Jim Thompson-y savagery but after a good opening with a game M. Emmet Walsh (who disappears immediately thereafter) this becomes about the *nicest* neo-noir you'll ever see, most bizarrely in Mastranonio's would-be femme fatale who brokers illegal arms deals so she can donate the money to charity and who inexplicably pines after Dafoe's aw-shucks sheriff in a manner that would embarrass Andy Hardy ("We got a kiss, Blade!" [Blade is her horse...])

I like all the actors but seems pointless overall. Not invested in any of the characters. The investigation in the opening was interesting, more mystery would have been good.

With a stacked cast, White Sands suffers both from an overly confusing plot that amounts to not much and for it being too nice for a neo-noir. Mastrantonio laughs through most of her lines and Dafoe smiles a lot. There is some great scenery that is ripe for a gritty crime story, but this isn't really it.

Great cast. Promising script that devolves into implausibility.

The film is extremely stylish and fairly nonsensical. How much you'll enjoy it from minute to minute will depend upon which of these is dominating. I found myself enjoying it for a while, but eventually the heroically outsized performances started to wear me down. This is really strange role for Dafoe. I'm not sure I ever really bought him as a simple country sheriff. The running joke about his hat is just one of the film's not very good ideas.