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MOVIE REVIEW:
THE WRAITH
(1986)
DIRECTOR:
Mike Marvin
STARRING:
CHarlie Sheen, Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid.
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It's only a few times for every child can they attach themselves to a movie, love it throughout and never look back, of course until they hit teenage years or early adult hood and suddenly other things are more important. Between getting laid, making money and getting messed up, there's just not time to really appreciate film. This is why getting older has it's advantages, looking back at the past, at those movies you once loved.
This film is that to me, a walk down memory lane, all the scenes that almost used to scare me when I was a child are now much funnier yet any of the B-grade quality in this film melts away as all my memories of it flood back and I can't help but smile as I get all nostalgic.
Am I talking about some charming Disney movie? No sir, I'm talking about a good ol' 80's action/sci-fi movie. This is a classic... The Wraith! Starring a young Charlie Sheen and released in the same year as Platoon. It's obviously made sometime before Platoon as you wouldn't jump from an Academy Award winning classic to the likes of this film. Despite how much I love it, it is not really a fantastic movie.
To summarise the plot, Charlie Sheen plays a young fella called Jamie Hankins, who returns from the dead as Jake Kesey AKA The Wraith (Jake's alter-identity & some sort of supernatural or alien-like being). While having sex with his lady Kerri (a young & beautiful Sherilyn Fenn), a gang of outlaw street racers kick the door in and kill Jamie. These guys spend a lot of the movie racing people for their cars and it's assumed that perhaps the time they killed Jamie is a once off, since then it's never gotten past the stage of threats... I dunno, more on that later.
The leader of this gang, Packard, somehow controls Kerri and obsesses over her, making her "his" and anyone who tries to even get near her he threatens with death or a mean, screwed-up nose stare. Anyway, Jake is mysteriously on the scene with his trail bike and Kerri has already taken a liking to him. They fall in love and get it on many times, much to Packard's dismay, but every time he tries to approach (or should I say threaten) her about it, or anyone else for that matter, The Wraith shows up mysteriously in a crazy futuristic sports car. He systematically breaks down the gang by racing each member one at a time at many different points throughout the movie.
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These races are shot well (unfortunately one of the crew died filming one of these races, thus the film is dedicated to him) but can become repetitive. This is especially due to the fact that each race ends up with The Wraith taking off much faster than the other car could possibly go, only to show up at the end of the track mysteriously for the opponent gang member to crash into him, thus killing them. Except there's a catch - when the flames go down, there's only one car, and one body. Even MORE mysterious, the body isn't burnt at all... AND ITS EYES HAVE BEEN SUCKED OUT! Holy shit, are you on the edge of your seat or what? How much could this plot thicken, not much, it's already confusingly told enough!
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^^ Thass gotta hoit! |
Sheriff Randy Quaid is on the scene and he's not taking any shit from nobody. His character is so unnecessary is not even funny. He just goes around town questioning the gang members like a high school principle, while the gang members stand there with a pout and folded arms while tapping their foot. It's the standard 80's fare.
The Wraith ends up killing all the gang members (aint no better revenge than ending someone's life eh?), get's the girl (lucky bastard) and they drive off into the sunset happily ever after. I do have a few problems though.
My first problem is... what the fuck is this Wraith. I understand he is Jamie returned from the dead, but he's come back looking more attractive with the name Jake. When he's in his car he comes out with a suit on with all this crazy wiring shit everywhere and a helmet and futuristic gun that really makes no more damage than your standard shotgun. Was his intent to come down to earth and BE mysterious on purpose!? Did he WANT everyone to think "how cool - I totally don't know who that guy is!", why the fuck else would he be wearing a helmet while driving a fully enclosed car!? You can't expect me to believe it's some type of breathing apparatus because when's he's cruising around as Jake unmasked he's all good! Is he a fucking alien, or some kind of un-dead being?? Am I to assume that Kerri is now going to live with this guy for the rest of her life, have little un-dead or alien children and just be content knowing that this guy, Jake, is her UNDEAD ex-boyfriend Jamie? Hey, what the hell, it's the 80s! Why not!? :)
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Secondly, the leader of the gang, Packard, is played by Nick Cassavetes, and maybe it's just me, but I just couldn't hate this guy. He has an almost charming face and personality. Ensuring his gang members open up the door for Kerri at times and other sorts of things. Sure I know he's psycho, I know he's obsessed over Kerri and forcing her into a life she doesn't want, but hey the guy can be nice when he wants to and he has a charming little smirk on him. Cut the guy a break... OR HE'LL KILL YOU! Nevertheless at times I felt he was hard done by, but that's just me I'm sure. If you felt otherwise let me know by hurling some abuse at me VIA comments section of this site, I'm sure there'll be no problems with that. You just need to pay an abuse fee - YOUR SOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUULS!
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Menacing gang members? Sure I'd be scared... ^^
for my asshole when these two fags try to get at it!
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Thirdly, this movie seems to have been shot at lightning speed and no real time is spent on explaining things. It's back to my first point about what exactly The Wraith is. It shows from the start 3 light balls/beams coming from out of the sky, fanging it along the road and then meeting at an intersection and DADAAAAAH! The Wraith car comes out of the merging of the lights. So he's an alien??? But then the story introduces to us that this Wraith thing is INDEED Jamie back from the dead. So... huh? He's from space... but... he's... a vengeful spirit... alien... Wha? Bah? Who?
But before you can really think any further about that issue, they introduce another one by casting a fella who looks almost exactly like Charlie Sheen to play Jamie in the flashbacks. Unfortunately the flashback scenes are shot with this intense red wash over the footage and it's a very dark shot so I can't quite see the guy's face so well. So at first I thought, well that's Charlie Sheen, why the hell can't all the other characters recognise him? His own brother can't make out he's identical to Jamie! Then it was apparent the guy was a TEENY bit different looking, I'm sure this slow realisation all comes down to my completely damaged brain.
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So while I'm trying to sort that blurriness out, another issue pops up. Packard killed Jamie right in front of Kerri, but then at the end there is a confrontation moment where Kerri says to Packard, "it was YOU who killed Jamie!", Packard replies to this with denial of course but I half expected him to say, "Well yeah, you were right fucking there - I'm sure you knew???". Maybe she had trouble making people's faces out because of the red lighting too.
All these problems smeeeeeaaaaaarrrrreeeddd together create a blurry story telling experience. It's the first time I've watched an 80's car racing movie and felt a little confused by the story. |
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^^ Where do ya think yer goin four eyes? You've
got more neon tubes left to install in this room. |
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Fuck it - this movie is still a hell of a lot of fun, for its nostalgic 80's factor alone. The acting is all reasonably good. The camera work is good, not inspired, but good.
Hell - the effects aren't even too bad for a movie that seems to have a low budget. Although after looking up the cost of the prototype vehicle that was the Wraith’s car, I can see where most of the money for this film would have gone. The car was in fact a Dodge M4S which cost over a millions bucks to make. |
The DVD I watched it on was even quite clear quality. Pity about the lack of special features (which I would be most definitely interested in) and the lack of 5.1 but it's just another unappreciated 80's gem that gets no special treatment whatsoever.
If you're a fan of the 80's (Class of 1999, earlier Corey's hits, even Troma films) and wish for those simpler times to be back with us, check out The Wraith because it really is a lot of fun! |
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^^ Believe it or not, you're looking at a million bucks! |
Typing this review ignorantly on my laptop as I speed along in my Dodge M4S, I give this movie:
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3 OUT OF 5 JAGER-BABIES. |
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