LATE NIGHT MOVIE SERIES: EYES OF LAURA MARS (1978)
BY JAKE MATHISON/February 11, 2012
Eyes of Laura Mars piqued
my interest for a couple of reasons. The foremost being that George
Lucas, after seeing some of its early test footage, hired its director, Irvin Kershner, to helm The Empire Strikes Back.
But it also caught my eye because it's based off a spec script by
horror legend John Carpenter. Double the intrigue, double the fun.
It's a
typical '70s Gothic mystery flick about a shock photographer named Laura
Mars, played by Faye Dunaway (Chinatown), who gains the ability to see through the eyes of
a serial killer. And as expected, it's as ridiculous as it sounds.
Though
it's beautifully shot, the film is wildly inconsistent and its plot
lacks even a single coherent thread running through it. In fact, the
film's story is so counter intuitive and confusing that even its
Wikipedia description had no idea what was going on (I've since fixed this to the best of my ability). The pacing is also atrocious,
and Dunaway dreadfully overplays every line to the point where you'll
wonder whether or not she's having some sort of seizure. Worse yet, the never
ending red herrings are just plain obnoxious and the twist ending is
unbelievably silly.
On the
plus side, we do get a very good (albeit nasal) performance from a
young Tommy Lee Jones, and the late Raul Julia turns up briefly as a
creepy former beau. It was also clearly shot on location in New York
City in the late '70s, so it does have that authentic, seedy disco era
vibe to it. And it's easy to see why Lucas became so enamored with
Kershner, as there is a lot to love about the film's production
quality and the ethereal, dreamlike way it was shot. It's
also a very good stylistic example of the giallo genre. But you can't
polish a turd, and the script is just that. Though, to Carpenter's
credit, the story does have good bones, and with a little common
sense and a lot of revision, it could be ripe for a remake someday
(even though Jessica Alba already came close in her impotent 2008
vehicle The Eye).
Quite
frankly, if you're big on substance, give this one a pass. It's all
style here. But with that being said, I'd still probably pick up a copy of
Eyes of Laura Mars if
it ever came out on Blu-ray, if only to admire its shear beauty with a proper transfer and better resolution.
BEST LINE: "I'm completely out of control!" -- Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway)
Eyes of Laura Mars is
rated R and is available from Amazon on DVD or as a digital download
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