Kalifornia - Movie Review

Kalifornia (1993)

Kalifornia is a thriller film that was released in 1993, directed by Dominic Sena and stars Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, and is about a couple of journalists who go on a cross country trip to research serial killers, but little do they know that they are travelling with a psychopath. The film received mixed reviews at the time of release and was a box office bomb, earning $2.4 million on a budget of $8.5 million.

THE GOOD

Kalifornia is many things, exciting, suspenseful, violent, all that good stuff. The cinematography is fantastic, the film really lets you see that American landscape, and it's breathtaking! I also love how grainy this movie is, it really helps elevate the grittiness and dirtiness of this movie. The performances are fucking phenomenal! By far the best performance here is Brad Pitt! The guy plays a damn good psychopath! His character is a real piece of shit, and seeing Brad Pitt acting like a complete lunatic was so much fun to watch! I also loved Juliette Lewis as Brad Pitt's simple minded, kind hearted girlfriend. Throughout the movie you really develop a lot of sympathy for her, her backstory is really tragic and the way you hear about how Brad Pitt's character treats and eventually how you see him treat her really makes you despise Brad Pitt's character even more. It felt like there was a neverending sense of dread throughout the movie, it always felt like something awful could happen at any given moment. The final act of the movie is very intense and exciting, it has all the excitement, tension and violence you could want from a movie like this. One of my favorite things about this movie is that it doesn't force the violence either, it makes it count when it happens, you really have to be patient instead of opting to be trashy entertainment. I love me some trashy entertainment, but it's a breath of fresh air to see a movie like this actually trying to be a film.

THE BAD

This is sort of a nitpick, but I do think the violence could have been more graphic, not to be trashy or anything, just to increase the intensity a bit. Green Room is a perfect example of a movie that has extremely graphic violence and manages to not have it be for the sake of having gore.

CONCLUSION

Kalifornia is a wonderful thriller. It has the right tone, the right amount of violence, it has fantastic performances, the cinematography is gorgeous and it's intense as shit!

9.5/10  -  AMAZING

Pros:

- Great tone

- Perfect cinematography 

- Performances (Brad Pitt in particular)

- Goes for genuine quality rather than trashy entertainment

Cons:

- Violence could've been more graphic to increase intensity (nitpick)

FILM DETAILS:

MPA rating:  R (for strong violence, and for sexuality and language)

Release date:  September 3rd, 1993

Run time:  117 min

Studio:  Polygram Filmed Entertainment