Writer & director Ana Lily Amirpour came up with an interesting premise, but "The Bad Batch" scratches out long before its 118-minute runtime ends. To call this movie slow would be an understatement. The cast and lenser Lyle Vincent's widescreen cinematography are to die for. Each shot is artfully composed. I'm not sure what Amirpour wanted to do with this unappetizing epic where the heroine has both her right arm and leg hacked off by cannibals. Mercifully, Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) escapes but the moment when she steals a skateboard to roll her across the desert made me want to burst out in laughter. I mean, here's a drop-dead gorgeous chick laying supine on a skateboard with only one arm to propel her forward. It isn't like she knows where she is going either as she stares into the brassy white hot sky. Eventually, Arlen escapes from the flesh-eaters, recovers, and acquires a fake leg. She gets pretty good with a gun and kills Miami Man's (Jason Momoa) black wife Maria (Yolonda Ross), kidnaps his daughter Honey (Jayda Fink of "Under the Bed") and takes her back with her into a safe zone where the cannibals aren't allowed to venture. Jim Carrey must have been bored out of his skull to want to play the Hermit who cannot talk. He's in the film perhaps 10 minutes, and he is virtually unrecognizable. Keanu Reeves wears his sunglasses well as the chief villain, The Dream, who keeps people high on drugs and searching for 'The Dream.' Arlen loses Honey to The Dream, but it takes her a while to track her down. Meantime, Miami Man enters the desert to find his wife and daughter, but finds only the wife. The shot of a vulture feasting on her eye socket looked cool. Arlen shot.
Ana Lily Amirpour's screenplay didn't make a lot of sense either. Arlen saves Honey from the desert, loses her and then trudges back into the desert and runs into Miami Man. He gets the drop on her and takes her prisoner, informally speaking, and then on the way back, she watches an African-American dude shoot him in the left side of his chest. Predictably, Miami Man survives the shooting and The Hermit picks the right time to find him before he dies so he can nurse him back to health.
The cast is excellent and so is the cinematography, while the movie struck me as sluggish and half-baked.
Ana Lily Amirpour's screenplay didn't make a lot of sense either. Arlen saves Honey from the desert, loses her and then trudges back into the desert and runs into Miami Man. He gets the drop on her and takes her prisoner, informally speaking, and then on the way back, she watches an African-American dude shoot him in the left side of his chest. Predictably, Miami Man survives the shooting and The Hermit picks the right time to find him before he dies so he can nurse him back to health.
The cast is excellent and so is the cinematography, while the movie struck me as sluggish and half-baked.