Reptile is a movie that starts out, absolutely fantastic builds to a crescendo about halfway through, and then falls apart through all the red herrings, macguffins, and unresolved loose ends, that it presents in an effort to give us a dramatic end to this murder mystery/procedural drama.
Benicio Del Toro delivers possibly the best performance I've ever seen him give he can often seem slimy, slick or creepy but in this film, he comes across just as he intends you to see him, which is as a man with a spotty history as a policeman, but greatly desiring to get onto the street and narrow. He is supported by his dutiful wife Judy, played by Alicia Silverstone in a really strong performance.
Justin Timberlake gives us a turn as the bereaved boyfriend of the murder victim, Timberlake and his mother, played by Frances Farmer, who is very underused on the real estate company that Timberlake and his girlfriend work for.
Quickly the suspects add up. There is the girlfriends soon to be ex-husband; then there's Eli who Timberlake and farmer have screwed out of his families property. There's also some sort of a weird creepy guy out of the church that's getting painted in the middle of nowhere. This is apparently a piece of property that the girlfriend sold but revisited. This plot point is never revisited, nor dug into any further, yet the paint that they've been using to paint the church appears on the victim and on the victims soon to be ex-husband.
Finally, we discover that the whole business is a result of police corruption and drug trafficking and money laundering. The police corruption goes so deep. We are not quite sure who's clean and who's dirty. This also leads to all sorts of loose ends that we are provided.
There's a scene with Del Toro at a therapists office as required after a shooting and he talks of a dream. Then later he has a dream or does he? It would seem that the dream which is very plot specific reveals the killer out right and no point do we get any indication that his realization of who the killer is wasn't a real occurrence rather than the dream it is presented as. But so many questions abound.
Why would any self-respecting policeman on the teak hang on to the vehicle that was used by the killer to kill the victim?
Was the killer actually the police chief and not the boyfriend? We don't know we're never told.
Why does Timberlake's character show up just days after the murder of his girlfriend with a girl that looks almost identical to that girlfriend in a restaurant where he runs into the detective leading the case? Further why would he have showed up with this girl and does she have any relevance to the plot that follows? No. It's another blind alley.
Is del Toro's partner in on the corruption? At the end we don't know.
What was the point of the police pulling Del Toro and his wife over after the party? If only to lead them home? It's possible it was to reinforce the fact that the police corruption goes deeper than he is aware. However, if this is the case it never comes up, or is never revealed at the end of the film. We just don't know what happens.
Who actually killed the victim in the film? It is never really divulged who that is. We are led to believe it is the boyfriend, but then if it is, why is the car that was used by the killer parked in the chief of police house?
Eli is killed off screen and this time we know Timberlake is in on it but we're not allowed to see who else is present in the room and it is never revealed to us even though it is alluded to.
Finally, the climax of the film has some of the most confusing things in it. Del Toro gives the evidence to the police captain, and they both go to see the chief of police to confront him with what they have. Now Del Toro's character has given over the evidence that Eli provided him to the police captain, whom we assume is on the take and Del Toro is unaware. This fact when realized really makes Del Toro seem like a rookie detective and not the seasoned guy he supposed to be.
When the chief of police whispers to Del Toro to leave because he's been found out, and that the captain is in on it, before Del Toro can leave, we must assume that the head of the DEA, who is a friend of Del Toro's is responsible for murdering the chief of police in his own home. Hearing this gunshot, Del Toro goes in to the bathroom where the captain has retreated and confront him and kills him. Then Del Toro's friend comes down the stairs after having killed a police, chief and attempt to kill del Toro. They have a gun fight, and Del Toro mortally ones his friend Dave. Then Del Toro picks up his phone and calls 911. We don't see police cars. He doesn't speak to the police or 911 yet in the next scene, we see Timberlake being arrested by the FBI while playing golf and then the next scene cuts to Del Toro Having his wife dip, his hands in hot wax, supposedly/assumedly to remove any gun shot residue he might have on his hands. But why? What is the shooting a good shooting? Or a bad shooting? We'll never know. The Director decides to leave us right there. We don't know if Del Toro is a good cop, who discovered a nest of vipers as the title would lead us to believe or if the FBI stumble across this whole thing on their own, and after their investigation, finally get around to arresting Timberlake. We don't see Francis farmer arrested. We don't see the police force getting arrested for this corruption and drug smuggling and money laundering and murder.
So while the film has incredible acting, and has a really neat premise, it just sort of falls apart at the end, because all these questions are left on answered, and there are just too many little bits and pieces that are thrown in that have no reason to be there.
.
Benicio Del Toro delivers possibly the best performance I've ever seen him give he can often seem slimy, slick or creepy but in this film, he comes across just as he intends you to see him, which is as a man with a spotty history as a policeman, but greatly desiring to get onto the street and narrow. He is supported by his dutiful wife Judy, played by Alicia Silverstone in a really strong performance.
Justin Timberlake gives us a turn as the bereaved boyfriend of the murder victim, Timberlake and his mother, played by Frances Farmer, who is very underused on the real estate company that Timberlake and his girlfriend work for.
Quickly the suspects add up. There is the girlfriends soon to be ex-husband; then there's Eli who Timberlake and farmer have screwed out of his families property. There's also some sort of a weird creepy guy out of the church that's getting painted in the middle of nowhere. This is apparently a piece of property that the girlfriend sold but revisited. This plot point is never revisited, nor dug into any further, yet the paint that they've been using to paint the church appears on the victim and on the victims soon to be ex-husband.
Finally, we discover that the whole business is a result of police corruption and drug trafficking and money laundering. The police corruption goes so deep. We are not quite sure who's clean and who's dirty. This also leads to all sorts of loose ends that we are provided.
There's a scene with Del Toro at a therapists office as required after a shooting and he talks of a dream. Then later he has a dream or does he? It would seem that the dream which is very plot specific reveals the killer out right and no point do we get any indication that his realization of who the killer is wasn't a real occurrence rather than the dream it is presented as. But so many questions abound.
Why would any self-respecting policeman on the teak hang on to the vehicle that was used by the killer to kill the victim?
Was the killer actually the police chief and not the boyfriend? We don't know we're never told.
Why does Timberlake's character show up just days after the murder of his girlfriend with a girl that looks almost identical to that girlfriend in a restaurant where he runs into the detective leading the case? Further why would he have showed up with this girl and does she have any relevance to the plot that follows? No. It's another blind alley.
Is del Toro's partner in on the corruption? At the end we don't know.
What was the point of the police pulling Del Toro and his wife over after the party? If only to lead them home? It's possible it was to reinforce the fact that the police corruption goes deeper than he is aware. However, if this is the case it never comes up, or is never revealed at the end of the film. We just don't know what happens.
Who actually killed the victim in the film? It is never really divulged who that is. We are led to believe it is the boyfriend, but then if it is, why is the car that was used by the killer parked in the chief of police house?
Eli is killed off screen and this time we know Timberlake is in on it but we're not allowed to see who else is present in the room and it is never revealed to us even though it is alluded to.
Finally, the climax of the film has some of the most confusing things in it. Del Toro gives the evidence to the police captain, and they both go to see the chief of police to confront him with what they have. Now Del Toro's character has given over the evidence that Eli provided him to the police captain, whom we assume is on the take and Del Toro is unaware. This fact when realized really makes Del Toro seem like a rookie detective and not the seasoned guy he supposed to be.
When the chief of police whispers to Del Toro to leave because he's been found out, and that the captain is in on it, before Del Toro can leave, we must assume that the head of the DEA, who is a friend of Del Toro's is responsible for murdering the chief of police in his own home. Hearing this gunshot, Del Toro goes in to the bathroom where the captain has retreated and confront him and kills him. Then Del Toro's friend comes down the stairs after having killed a police, chief and attempt to kill del Toro. They have a gun fight, and Del Toro mortally ones his friend Dave. Then Del Toro picks up his phone and calls 911. We don't see police cars. He doesn't speak to the police or 911 yet in the next scene, we see Timberlake being arrested by the FBI while playing golf and then the next scene cuts to Del Toro Having his wife dip, his hands in hot wax, supposedly/assumedly to remove any gun shot residue he might have on his hands. But why? What is the shooting a good shooting? Or a bad shooting? We'll never know. The Director decides to leave us right there. We don't know if Del Toro is a good cop, who discovered a nest of vipers as the title would lead us to believe or if the FBI stumble across this whole thing on their own, and after their investigation, finally get around to arresting Timberlake. We don't see Francis farmer arrested. We don't see the police force getting arrested for this corruption and drug smuggling and money laundering and murder.
So while the film has incredible acting, and has a really neat premise, it just sort of falls apart at the end, because all these questions are left on answered, and there are just too many little bits and pieces that are thrown in that have no reason to be there.
.