Perhaps my expectations were too high
in hoping that Midnight Meat Train would offer a
terrifying rollercoaster ride of a mystery. Or maybe studio
Lionsgate just sold the movie inaccurately in the promotional
materials. What I know is this: Midnight Meat Train ain’t
no Silence of the Lambs when it comes to crafting grisly,
psychologically-scarring horror, nor does it try to be. This is
a dressed-up, pulpy splatterfest that is unrelenting in its
depiction of violence, ultimately no more riveting than
standard-issue torture-porn even though it’s a thousand times
more stylish. Blood-crazed Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura is
a part of the project for a reason – and it isn’t a good one.
I’m certain
that the above comments will cause countless fans of Kitamura
and source-author Clive Barker to send me dozens of angry
e-mails about how much I’m misunderstanding the point of
Midnight Meat Train’s existence. To this accusation, I would
merely respond that I’m judging the movie on its own merits as I
see fit. Barker likely didn’t intend for the material to be
compared to The Silence of the Lambs—judging by his usual
themes, I’d say this is a sure thing—but such a mold is the only
means by which I can perceive the premise working. Said premise
is ingenious in its simplicity: a photographer searching for
material late one evening on the city subway discovers a
murderer who, he learns, very well may be butchering the last
rider each night and giving the meat to a slaughterhouse.
Nonetheless, because of its simplicity, the story desperately
needs a substantive emotional angle, much like the one developed
between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling as they pursued
Buffalo Bill.
To say the
least, developing said emotional angle is the least of
screenwriter Jeff Buhler, Barker, and Kitamura’s worries. They
have fashioned a bloody, thoughtless movie with a few deep
thinking-points thrown in for good measure. The exercise is ripe
in style and entirely watchable for its aesthetic values—colors
pop off the screen and Foley sounds stun the senses—but it
doesn’t have a real reason to exist. Based on what the
filmmakers have put on the screen, Midnight Meat Train
could have one of two possible purposes: 1) to play with
different visual styles in violent, pulpy, fun ways or 2) to
form a comment on the nature of cinematic violence. Both prove
invalid throughout the movie. If Buhler, Barker, and Kitamura
set out to achieve the first purpose, then they have done so,
but such has only proved a fruitless motivation for making a
film because it has been done better countless times before. If
they wanted to achieve the second, then they have failed
miserably as the movie stands only as a celebration of violence
in its hyper-stylization of the material, not an external
comment on the abundance of blood and guts seen in modern
horror. Without solid footing on which to stand, Midnight
Meat Train proves a rather empty picture.
That
Midnight Meat Train’s ripe premise is not approached in a
more thoughtful manner is something of a shame, too, given that
many of the pieces necessary for the movie’s success were in
place. Even in the misfire of a film that currently stands, the
acting is superb. In the lead role of photographer Leon
Kauffman, Bradley Cooper provides his character as much nuance
as the hollow script will allow. As the film progresses, we feel
this man transforming in a visceral sort of way as he is
tortured by the mounting evidence of the subway killer. Vinnie
Jones also strikes a nerve through his mere presence as said
killer, although it’s a shame the character isn’t provided the
depth of, oh, Buffalo Bill. (One particular scene in which he
smacks a victim in the head with a steel meat-hammer, only to
show blood fleeing from the head in Kitamura’s self-indulgent
slow-motion, really made me realize how much I wished I had been
watching an entirely different take on the same story.) A
similar feeling pervades when numerous supporting characters,
particularly Leon’s girlfriend Maya (Leslie Bibb), appear
onscreen and the actors are deprived of truly meaty material to
sink their teeth into (no pun intended).
At the end of
the day, Midnight Meat Train ultimately represents only
another cinematic misfire that could’ve been a success. As sorry
as I am to see yet another story worth telling be told in the
wrong way, such is commonplace in modern cinema and I’m
accustomed to it. Kitamura has made a movie that may be
moderately enjoyed for its visuals and performances—in fact, for
the first half-hour, I was stimulated enough by these elements
to ignore pressing flaws—but fails on nearly every other level.
All told, there isn’t much groundbreaking material on display
here, folks.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 7.28.2008
Screened on: The eve of 7.26.2008
at Midnight at the Reading Gaslamp 15 in San Diego, CA.
