SOUTHLAND TALES STARTS WITH A FASCINATING PREMISE BUT TRIVIALIZES THE ORWELLIAN MESSAGE
Two atomic bombs hit Texas in 2004. America is transformed. More civil liberties are lost by a renewed Patriot Act that is specifically credited to the Republicans. By 2008, those opposed to the new order, in which surveillance is combined with snipers on duty, are called neo-Marxist traitors and treated accordingly. The United States is on a permanent war footing simultaneously in Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, and Syria. But rather than a political thriller, science fiction enters the plot along decadent Hollywood’s excesses. Directed by Richard Kelly, the political loses out to the trivial, and PFS members may walk out before the ending of the film. MH.