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A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| Sergio Leone |||
Sergio Leone

Leone’s career is remarkable in its unrelenting attention to both American culture and the American genre film, exploring the mythic America he created with each successive film examining the established characters in greater depth.

Only his second feature (a remake of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo), Leone's landmark "spaghetti western" caused a revolution and features Clint Eastwood in his breakthrough role as "The Man With No Name". This classic brutal drama of feuding families wasn’t the first spaghetti Western, but it was far and away the most successful up to that time.

Plot is of minimal interest, but character is everything to Leone, who places immense meaning in the slightest flick of an eyelid, extensively using the extreme close-up on the eyes to reveal any feeling, as demonstrated by Clint, who squints his way through this slam-bang sequel to A Fistful of Dollars as a wandering gunslinger that must combine forces with his nemesis to track down a wanted killer.

The final chapter in the groundbreaking trilogy follows Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach as they form an uneasy alliance to find a stash of hidden gold. Leone focuses on his central theme as they find themselves facing greed, treachery, and murder, showing that the desire for wealth and power turns men into ruthless creatures who violate land and family and believe that a man’s death is less important than how he faces it.

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Conspiracy

By BrianOrndorf

March 21st, 2008

I don't know who asked for it, but the moment has arrived: Val Kilmer is now officially Steven Seagal.

Conspiracy

THE FILM

"Conspiracy" is classic low-budget tripe, typically reserved for a down-on-their-luck action star with little to no interest in script quality. Perhaps the Seagals and Van Dammes of the world were too busy, so enter Val Kilmer, and he's going to tear your nuts clean off.

Iraq war vet MacPherson (Val Kilmer) is asked by a combat friend to meet him at a small border town in Arizona to discuss recent troubles. MacPherson, scarred from his experience, reluctantly agrees, and after the long bus journey, arrives to find an old west-style community, run by the reptilian Rhodes (Gary Cole). With help from a concerned local (Jennifer Esposito), MacPherson learns the terrible truth behind the town's construction, leaving him no other option but to take the law into his own hands and declare war on Rhodes and his force of corrupt cops.

"Conspiracy" is a truly ridiculous film. Yet, the casting of Kilmer and the occasional bit of surprise that manages to sneak out of the script keeps this DTV effort strangely compelling. Constructed as a western, the picture plays very broadly with images of redneck brutality, humbled heroism, and various offerings of violence. I can't imagine this is the picture director Adam Marcus ("Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday") set out to make when he first envisioned his movie, but I was impressed with the filmmaker's tenacity and ambition to make a rough-n-ready revenge film absolutely devoid of a noticeable budget.

Would you believe "Conspiracy" is really about Dick Cheney? The screenplay wants to butch up to Charles Bronson standards, but at the heart of this absurd creation sleeps a commentary on Halliburton (called "Halicorp" in the picture) and the facade of patriotism in America. Rhodes isn't just a greedy madman; he also abuses angelic Mexican illegals, funds war efforts to keep his honey pot overflowing, and punches women (booooooo!). "Conspiracy" isn't shy drawing parallels toward Cheneyesque cycles of corruption, and a light dusting of this material is worrisome, but digestible. However, the film is quick to sprint into preach mode, absent the level of intelligence required to make it all mean something more than embarrassed giggles and eye-rolls.

Call me weird, but I don't think political posturing can be taken seriously in a picture that contains a snap zoom reveal of prosthetic leg and a hero who promptly barfs chili on the bad guy at the first sign of trouble.

THE DVD

Visual:

Presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1 aspect ratio), "Conspiracy" is a muddy viewing experience, particularly in the opening Iraq combat sequences. Detail is a mess, but once the story switches over to brightly-lit New Mexico locations, matters improve substantially.

Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix offers nothing truly robust to the presentation, only contributing the bare minimum of dimension and kick, further revealing the limited resources made available to this production.

Extras:

None, but the DVD has a gang of trailers, including "The Cleaner," "Thunderheart," "Revolver," "Pistol Whipped," "We Own the Night," "Missionary Man," Southland Tales," "Black Water," "April Fool's Day," and "Bats: Human Harvest."

FINAL THOUGHTS

The entertainment value of "Conspiracy" boils down to Val Kilmer and his lethargic demeanor. I refuse to crack wise about his recent weight gain, but one can easily spot a slowing of response from the actor, or perhaps it's his boredom with the script. Kilmer doesn't put in much of an effort here, but that's more than what's typically offered to a frayed actioner like this.

Kilmer pulls off iced rage well, and when MacPherson drinks from the crazy cup for the final act showdown, it's entertaining to watch the lumpy actor work through the junior-high John Woo choreography, while Marcus attempts unsuccessfully to make it all feel slick and expensive. "Conspiracy" doesn't have anything to offer the audience outside of a few good twists and a doughy Val Kilmer stomping around, but that's almost enough to make the experience watching it worth the trouble.

My rating: C