lost in a land of death

death valley...what could go wrong.
the first scene is a man driving down an empty desert road past a man hitchhiking. oh that can't be good... he decides to pick him up but the hitchhiker says a couple things that seemingly change his mind. he drives off and then stops. driving backwards runs the hitchhiker down, over, and then precedes to enjoy his handy work. what just happened??? a twist. the very next scene the man looses a bloodied hubcap and a cop tracks him down to his shack and is seemingly in his own perilous situation....except after a bit of a fight going horribly wrong for the cop, the man simply surrenders. what just happened? a twist. hmm, interesting. next, the killer is executed and we are fast forwarded to the present time where most of the movie actually happens.

and from there on we're going to get lost in something terribly unclear. a new sheriff comes to town in a rest stop with the old sheriff. three bank robbers come there, one is shot and dying. at some point something happens that puts everything in motion where the cops can't seem to get back up despite being told its on the way. there are people missing. there are new people showing up. and weird things happening. and at some point we start to learn that these people are trapped in an alternate dimension...literally the portion of death valley is in a physical bubble that one man runs into another is nearly killed after crashing into it. his missing face and most of his head actually, yet he seems to live. what is happening here? is it purgatory? they've already died maybe. is it an alternate universe? the people seem to hear into the real world several times. or is it a dream or a fragmented moment at death extended out seemingly longer and more surreal than it really is? and worse the killer is somehow part of this world and performing his magical twisted art upon these new inhabitants.

for me its the ending that fails the film but there are other problems that indicate the issue along the way. there doesn't seem to be a clear motivation behind the style. it wanders. some times its a comedy, sometimes a drama, and yet its a horror of sorts. its all over the place and never fully commits to any of these. but its the ending that leaves me questioning. the mystery is not "what was the meaning of life?" as much as it is "what did they intend this to mean?" it seems like some things got watered downed or lost along the way to finishing this movie. typical i guess. and i can't say the movie is truly bad, there was enough here to keep me watching and interested, but in the end i can't say it left me convinced.

what was the meaning of everything that happened in this movie? what happened?

interesting but disappointing.

(5/10)

5/10