U-Turn Review
by Michael Dequina (michael_jordan AT geocities DOT com)October 10th, 1997
U-Turn (R) *** (out of ****)
The words "An Oliver Stone Film" have come to signify a big, bombastic political statement by the controversial director, so at the opening of U-Turn, his moderately-budgeted, statement-free thriller, in place of those words are "An Oliver Stone Movie." The altered credit is clearly intended to label the film as an unpretentious, conventional genre piece, but after seeing the film, I see it as more of a warning. U-Turn is not a conventional genre piece, but rather Stone's perception of a genre piece--which is bizarre, somewhat baffling, but nonetheless intriguing and warped entertainment for anyone brave enough to tackle it.
This adaptation of John Ridley's Stray Dogs does boil down to a thriller premise: Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) on the way to Vegas to settle a debt with some stolen money, has his radiator hose blow up on him in the backwater--make that back_desert_--town of Superior, Arizona, where he becomes part of a murderous triangle with sultry, bored housewife Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez) and her wealthy husband Jake (Nick Nolte). The seeds of this conflict are planted early on, but for the space of an hour, nothing really happens with it; instead, that time is spent with Bobby as he encounters the various eccentrics about town: flirty hick Jenny (Claire Danes); her tough guy suitor Toby N. Tucker, a.k.a. TNT (Joaquin Phoenix); a nameless blind man (Jon Voight) with a dead pet dog; and mechanic Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton), a grease monkey in the truest sense of the term. For this time, Stone appears more interested in the oddball characters than he is the normal thriller aspects, which would be a problem if the characters and the situations were not as funny as they are. Not everything works (a running gag where Bobby's beverage bottles keep on breaking before he can drink is especially lame), but for the most part this section of the film is a demented hoot, galvanized by some great character work by the supporting players.
With that sideshow going on, the thriller side of U-Turn seems more of an afterthought, both figuratively and literally; the Bobby-Grace-Jake triangle and its intertwining murder schemes takes finally centerstage with about 40 minutes to go. But Stone gives it his all, using his Natural Born Killers intercutting visual style to good use here to underscore points in Ridley's ever-twisting screenplay, and going full-throttle with the sex and, this being Stone, violence. Keeping things running smoothly are the actors, especially Lopez, who shows more depth and versatility with every film. In a way, U-Turn feels like two different films--the small-town satire and the thriller--but what unites them is Ridley and Stone's pitch-black sense of humor. The blood-drenched finale may be too gruesome for most audiences to get the joke, but if you do, it is quite funny in the most twisted sense.
Many critics have panned U-Turn as a creative cul-de-sac for Stone, but I think it signifies the opening of a new road for the director to take--the application of his considerable filmmaking talents to films other than personal "message" movies. If the loopy yet fun U-Turn is any indication, his planned Mission: Impossible sequel should be something to look forward to.
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Michael Dequina
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