Rubber (50th Review Special)
Lo and behold, we are now within year two of this wild ride of reviews, and we start off with my 50th review! I can't believe it's been 50 reviews since I fatefully reviewed The Wolf of Wall Street last February (actually yes I can, taking into account the Bondathon and other such things, and the fact that most of my posts aren't reviews, but whatever). And from the Moonrakers to The Martians, it's been one hell of a ride if I do must say so myself.
Now a few months back, when I realized I was coming upon this milestone, I knew I needed to watch a movie that's extremely spectacular, something odd, something that would make me give one hell of a review. There were a lot of suggestions, such as a few classics and I think someone suggested Space Jam, but one stuck out. A primary request that had been made by so many of my friends before...Rubber. So I did it...and my god, Rubber is one of the strangest and most questioning movies I've ever laid eyes on.
Rubber is a horror dark comedy film directed by Quentin Dupieux (I think that's how you spell it). It was designed to be a movie that just threw everything once known about horror movies out the window and do it's own thing. Right down to the fact that it clearly states in the opening that reason doesn't matter. It kind of is crazy, really...it's a generally psychotically crazy movie...and I haven't even gotten to talking about the plot yet...I guess it's time to do that.
Basically Rubber is the story about a killer tire. A tire named Robert of all things. The tire just springs to life and starts killing everything in its way, all while a group of onlookers known as, "the audience," watch like a movie. Robert goes around through the desert, crushing a plastic bottle and scorpion. However, when he comes upon a glass bottle which he is unable to crush, he emits a high pitched noise, causing the bottle to explode.
Robert eventually finds his way to civilization as he follows a girl in a car to a nearby motel. He sort of falls in love with the girl, killing anyone who threatens her, and he stays at the motel overnight in a room next to hers. Meanwhile, the audience is killed by a poisonous turkey provided by the man who brought them all together, and only one man remains: a cripple in a wheelchair, who refuses to eat any of the provided food.
The next morning, Robert kills the room service attendant at the motel, which gains the attention of the police. A boy who saw Robert move on his own strength swears to his father and the police that a tire killed her, but they dismiss him in disbelief. The lead sheriff receives word of the audience's death and swears to everyone that the show is over, but due to the wheelchair man still being alive, the show goes on as Robert kills the boy's father. The chase starts as the police begin to look for the tire.
Three days later, it's apparent that Robert has been on a major killing spree as bodies litter the streets of the small town. The police find Robert hiding out in a small house, watching TV. They get the girl from earlier to help them fool Robert by building a mannequin of her with an explosive device. The plan fails, and the lead sheriff walks into the house and ends it himself, shooting Robert with a shotgun. However, he regenerates into a tricycle, kills the wheelchair man, and drives off.
The movie ends as the newly reborn Robert leads an army of tires into Hollywood, presumably to go on yet another killing spree.
So uh...
You know, the only thing I've said so far about this movie is that it's just that, it's a movie. I was told not to take things seriously. I'm not, but I seriously don't know what to say about it. It's a very, very strange movie, there's no denying it.
The first and most important thing that I can say is that I adore the originality with the plot. A killing tire? That's definitely never been done before. We've had killer tomatoes, but never a killer tire, and...it honestly works. There's a definite sense of suspense when you really think about it. You think he'll kill one person, and then he won't, and then he does kill someone unexpectedly. I really like that about it. Also having the fourth wall point of view of an audience is a really neat prospect...I'd like to see more dark comedic titles try something like that.
I don't really know if there's anything spectacular to say about the casting of the film. They're all pretty good, especially the lead sheriff in his zany style of going about things, from the opening speech about reason, to the final stand off with Robert. There's a lot of cameos by some of my favorite French musicians, so that's also a plus. Speaking of said musicians, the score used in the final parts of the film were done by them, and it's funky as much as it is suspenseful.
So I think I'm going to give this crazy-ass piece of Rubber a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It's one of the better dark horror comedies out there, but it does leave first time viewers with a sense of, "What?" Which, in retrospect, I suppose is the point, but it does leave you a bit bewildered. But as the sheriff says in the beginning..."No reason."
Also, a side note, to those of you who have stuck around for these first 50 reviews, I thank you all for this. When I started this blog, I had a definite sense of doubt to it all. I felt like it was something I'd probably end up forgetting as time goes on, and while there were points where it seemed inevitable, I still picked it up and got to where I am today. So, thanks for reading all this. Here's to these first 50 reviews, and here's to 50 more.
Robert eventually finds his way to civilization as he follows a girl in a car to a nearby motel. He sort of falls in love with the girl, killing anyone who threatens her, and he stays at the motel overnight in a room next to hers. Meanwhile, the audience is killed by a poisonous turkey provided by the man who brought them all together, and only one man remains: a cripple in a wheelchair, who refuses to eat any of the provided food.
The next morning, Robert kills the room service attendant at the motel, which gains the attention of the police. A boy who saw Robert move on his own strength swears to his father and the police that a tire killed her, but they dismiss him in disbelief. The lead sheriff receives word of the audience's death and swears to everyone that the show is over, but due to the wheelchair man still being alive, the show goes on as Robert kills the boy's father. The chase starts as the police begin to look for the tire.
Three days later, it's apparent that Robert has been on a major killing spree as bodies litter the streets of the small town. The police find Robert hiding out in a small house, watching TV. They get the girl from earlier to help them fool Robert by building a mannequin of her with an explosive device. The plan fails, and the lead sheriff walks into the house and ends it himself, shooting Robert with a shotgun. However, he regenerates into a tricycle, kills the wheelchair man, and drives off.
The movie ends as the newly reborn Robert leads an army of tires into Hollywood, presumably to go on yet another killing spree.
So uh...
You know, the only thing I've said so far about this movie is that it's just that, it's a movie. I was told not to take things seriously. I'm not, but I seriously don't know what to say about it. It's a very, very strange movie, there's no denying it.
The first and most important thing that I can say is that I adore the originality with the plot. A killing tire? That's definitely never been done before. We've had killer tomatoes, but never a killer tire, and...it honestly works. There's a definite sense of suspense when you really think about it. You think he'll kill one person, and then he won't, and then he does kill someone unexpectedly. I really like that about it. Also having the fourth wall point of view of an audience is a really neat prospect...I'd like to see more dark comedic titles try something like that.
I don't really know if there's anything spectacular to say about the casting of the film. They're all pretty good, especially the lead sheriff in his zany style of going about things, from the opening speech about reason, to the final stand off with Robert. There's a lot of cameos by some of my favorite French musicians, so that's also a plus. Speaking of said musicians, the score used in the final parts of the film were done by them, and it's funky as much as it is suspenseful.
So I think I'm going to give this crazy-ass piece of Rubber a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It's one of the better dark horror comedies out there, but it does leave first time viewers with a sense of, "What?" Which, in retrospect, I suppose is the point, but it does leave you a bit bewildered. But as the sheriff says in the beginning..."No reason."
Also, a side note, to those of you who have stuck around for these first 50 reviews, I thank you all for this. When I started this blog, I had a definite sense of doubt to it all. I felt like it was something I'd probably end up forgetting as time goes on, and while there were points where it seemed inevitable, I still picked it up and got to where I am today. So, thanks for reading all this. Here's to these first 50 reviews, and here's to 50 more.
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