In Hollywood, the wealthy producer Mike Max (Bill Pullman) enjoys and promotes violent movies. He has a troubled marriage with Paige Stockard (Andie MacDowell), who claims that he does not give much attention to her. When the stunt Cat (Traci Lind) hurts her face during a shooting, Max is afraid to be sued and visits Cat in the hospital. Then he asks his assistant Claire (Rosalind Chao) to give an audition to Cat for his next film. Out of the blue, he receives an e-mail with a classified attachment from the FBI, but he does not read. Then the stupid thugs Frank Cray (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and Lowell Lewis (John Diehl) kidnap him and say that they have been hired to kill him. Mysteriously, Mike escapes and a group of Mexican gardeners find and lodge him at home. The cinephile police detective "Doc" Dean Brock " (Loren Dean) investigates his disappearance since Max is accused of killing the two criminals and notes that the police officers seem to be hiding something. Meanwhile, the former NASA computer scientist Ray Bering (Gabriel Byrne) is hired to work at the Griffith Park Observatory in an experimental satellite surveillance system in Los Angeles that invades people privacy with the purpose of reducing crimes and has not been approved by the Congress yet. His chief, Brice Phelps (Daniel Benzali), sends the Salvadorean maid Mathilda (Marisol Padilla Sánchez) with her daughter to keep the place clean. When Ray sees that the cameras have filmed Max's abduction, he becomes obsessed to learn what happened to him.
"The End of Violence" is a Wim Wenders' long film with a promising beginning, messy development and awful conclusion. The music score with Ry Cooder is excellent, but the confused screenplay with many unnecessary scenes deserved an edition and improvement. Ray Bering's obsession of discovering what happened with Max recalls "Blow up". Wim Wnders' style slightly recalls David Lynch, but is only a mess. Unfortunately, the film with the idea of the end of violence (through and illegal surveillance system, or the change of opinion of Mike Max after his abduction) does not work despite the great cast. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "O Fim da Violência" ("The End of the Violence")
"The End of Violence" is a Wim Wenders' long film with a promising beginning, messy development and awful conclusion. The music score with Ry Cooder is excellent, but the confused screenplay with many unnecessary scenes deserved an edition and improvement. Ray Bering's obsession of discovering what happened with Max recalls "Blow up". Wim Wnders' style slightly recalls David Lynch, but is only a mess. Unfortunately, the film with the idea of the end of violence (through and illegal surveillance system, or the change of opinion of Mike Max after his abduction) does not work despite the great cast. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "O Fim da Violência" ("The End of the Violence")