MAN DOWN
GALA D: Dito Montiel. Sep 15, 6:30 pm Roy Thomson Hall Sep 16, 3 pm Ryerson Sep 18, 3:15 pm Ryerson. See listings. Rating: N
America’s never-ending war on terror – and the terrible cost paid by the young men sent to fight it – serves as the cynical backdrop for this abysmal psychological thriller from director/co-writer Montiel (A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, Boulevard).
Man Down uses a fractured narrative and heavily stylized cinematography to tell an all-too-familiar story about a traumatized Marine (Shia LaBeouf) coming home to find a very different world than the one he left. It’s technically impressive but narratively stupefying, and acted with ludicrous self-importance by a bulked-up LaBeouf – who’s so bad that he makes Jai Courtney look textured as his stoic best friend.
Gary Oldman maintains his dignity as a kindly military psychologist, but he’s not in it long enough to make a difference.