Bang Bang You're Dead (2002)

When the end credits of Bang Bang You're Dead are done, I'm sadly left wondering just how good this movie really could have been. It launches like a rocket, it forces you within the realm of high school and it makes sure we all understand what might happen.

Unfortunately, in my book, the movie is a little too in love with the play Bang Bang You're Dead. It forgets the movie on its own merit are heading towards the sky, like the launch intended. So, I'm not left wondering how good it could have been because its bad. I'm left wondering because even with that annoyance painting too much of the play over the movie, it's still such a great movie. It demands attention, just like the play intended. It asks questions, it holds up a mirror and whether or not you like what you see there; It demands you take a good hard look at what's looking back.

Being who I'm, it always bother me quite a bit when a movie or a TV-show steps off in the wrong direction. Especially when it should have been so obvious to all involved. It's much like when comedians try to explain their jokes during the silence, even if they should know we got the joke. We just didn't think it was funny.

Back to the movie. The reason I keep mentioning this, is because I'm left feeling it was heading for instant all time classic status. It had the actors to back it. Ben Foster is great in the lead. Moloney, Paetkau and Harrison are strong supports, but Tom Cavanagh is much like Foster one of the actors really elevating it. Add the parents, several others of the students and teachers and those of other families, law enforcement and so on, and we're talking an ensemble. And Jane McGregor. I can't believe I've never seen anything from her again. And behind the actors are a great idea of a movie reflecting on the play in question. We're talking hot subject. We're talking about high school's hierarchy, bullying, pressures and the worst case scenario of massacres. We are talking about gun control, society these days and prejudice. We're talking about choosing between being the label or being an independent soul searching for our destiny no matter what label others have us pinned as.

And it was heading there. I could see it coming. I could feel the movie aim there, but in the end it didn't detonate. Thankfully, the impact alone was more than enough to do more than other movies achieve even when they do detonate. I could feel betrayed it didn't even come close to fulfill it's potential, but I'll rather look at it this way. It aimed so high, that even as it fails it leaves you praising its intentions.