Mojave
Director: William Monahan.
Screenplay: William Monahan.
Starring: Garrett Hedlund, Oscar Isaac, Mark Wahlberg, Walton Goggins, Louise Bourgoin, Matt Jones, Fran Kranz, Niall Madden, Ron Duncan, Oliver Cooper.
“When you get what you want, what do you want?”
After winning an Oscar for his taught and labyrinthine screenplay duties on Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, William Monahan decided to embark on his own directorial projects. His debut was the misjudged, crime drama London Boulevard which, although not entirely successful, still had some flourishes of substance. Now, with Mojave, Monahan delivers a huge surprise. A surprise, that an Oscar winning writer can deliver something so woefully inadequate.
Tortured, put upon, artist Thomas (Garrett Hedlund) heads into the desert to find himself and what he wants from life. What he finds is Jack (Oscar Isaac), a tortured, homicidal drifter which leads to Thomas committing a deadly act that he can’t run away from. Jack intends to remind him of it by following him back to L.A. to challenge him to face up to it while destroying his privileged lifestyle in the process.
In the interests of fairness, I have to admit that Mojave’s premise in two suicidal guys who find themselves hunting one another is a promising one. But that’s also what makes the film so frustrating. It has the potential to be an intense, cat-and-mouse revenge tale but never builds on it’s promise. There’s also a potential intelligence to the film as it makes references to Shakespeare, T.E. Lawrence and explores the philosophical theory of the duality of man. It seems to wear it’s existential heart on it’s sleeve and the characters talk a good game but Monahan never delivers anything other than words. And even then, some of it is incomprehensible drivel that’s dressed up to sound deep. He lacks the ability crank up the tension when it’s plain to see that the film is squandering it’s positives right before your eyes.
To be frank, the problem is with the writing. Plot developments are woefully and insultingly handled; one instance, in particular, has a police officer make a random appearance in the middle of the desert without any explanation as to why he’s there. The only reason is to move the plot along and that’s not the only time this happens throughout the film. It’s problems like this that lead to the realisation that Monahan is not showing any attention to detail and seemingly doesn’t care that he’s insulting his audiences intelligence.
Having Garrett Hedlund as the lead doesn’t help matters either; he simply doesn’t have the gravitas to carry the film and it’s very difficult to find any sympathy for his privileged, self-important character. The least said about Mark Wahlberg’s presence, the better. He has nothing to do but hang around in a dressing gown and entertain hookers and it’s hard to fathom why he even made an appearance at all.
There really is only one redeeming feature and that’s Isaac. He adds layer upon interesting layer on his Mephistophelian character and affords him a depth that I’d wager was missing from the script. Monahan doesn’t even deserve the talent and commitment of Isaac here; his effortless magnetism gives the film a much needed lift whenever he’s onscreen but it’s still not enough to save the film overall.
Underdeveloped and underwhelming nonsense. The one oasis in this film is the committed work of Isaac but other than him, the content of Mojave is as dry, barren and unproductive as it’s title suggests.
Mark Walker
Trivia: Oscar Isaac and Garrett Hedlund previously appeared together in Inside Llewyn Davis while Mark Wahlberg and Hedlund worked together on Four Brothers, as the oldest and youngest of the four, respectively.
MARKED MOVIES 
April 28, 2016 at 11:17 am
What a shame that this turned out to be disappointing, despite the promising set up.
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April 28, 2016 at 12:46 pm
It is a shame, Vinnie. I really liked the sound of it beforehand but it’s all the over place. All promise and potential was squandered.
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April 28, 2016 at 12:47 pm
I hate when a movie has the potential to be something special and then falls completely flat.
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April 28, 2016 at 12:49 pm
Me too, man. If that’s a pet hate then this film will do you no favours.
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April 28, 2016 at 12:49 pm
I’ll steer clear of this movie then.
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April 28, 2016 at 12:14 pm
Too bad! All you had to say was Oscar Isaac, and I was interested.
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April 28, 2016 at 12:48 pm
I hear you Cindy. Isaac has been on a great roll for several years now but this is one he’d probably rather forget. That said, Isaac is fantastic in it.
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April 28, 2016 at 1:59 pm
Sounds like a stinker. I’d read only one review of this before yours, which was a little more positive, but not to the point that I was going to see it. I’ll actively steer clear now!
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April 28, 2016 at 2:13 pm
It’s probably best to give this one a wide berth, Stu. It had so much potential and the premise is good but it seriously fails to deliver and it’s hard to identify with Hedlund’s character. Isaac is great but that’s about it.
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April 28, 2016 at 2:17 pm
Isaac’s one of the most dependable and versatile actors working today, isn’t he? I’m almost tempted just because he’s in it…but no.
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April 28, 2016 at 3:31 pm
Haha! My three favourite actors today are Fassbender, Hardy and Isaac. I succumbed to the temptation of Isaac in Mojave but trust me, it’s pretty bad.
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April 28, 2016 at 8:15 pm
That pic of Isaac holding a pooch makes me chuckle…
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April 28, 2016 at 8:37 pm
Haha! The whole film kinda made me chuckle, man. I wasn’t a fan at all.
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April 28, 2016 at 8:54 pm
Saw this recently and completely agree with you as Isaac was really good with this, but without caring about the characters it’s hard to really get into this film.
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April 29, 2016 at 5:10 pm
Cheers Nostra. Yeah, Isaac is great but he can’t save a very dull and uninteresting film. It had potential but it really didn’t work out.
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May 2, 2016 at 3:58 pm
Sounds very disappointing.
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May 4, 2016 at 1:52 pm
Hugely disappointing Abbi. Ok, I wasn’t expecting a potential classic or anything but I thought it’d be much better than the dross it delivered.
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May 3, 2016 at 2:00 pm
Oh wow! This movie sounds like it had potential that it just wasted. Ouch. Great work, and sorry you wasted your time.
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May 4, 2016 at 1:54 pm
I’m sorry I wasted my time too, Zoë. I suppose I was banking on Oscar Isaac’s run of great films and performances. He delivers as expected but the film doesn’t. It was insultingly bad!
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May 5, 2016 at 5:41 am
Isaac is my man-crush…. I hadn’t heard about this one. It sounds like its a bit crap but i might try to catch it just for Isaac
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May 5, 2016 at 8:12 am
If you catch it for Isaac you won’t be disappointed in his work, Jordan. He’s great but the dialogue can be woeful at times and the film overall doesn’t really work. That said, if you lower your expectations you might find something in it.
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May 8, 2016 at 12:19 am
Ah, that’s a bummer. I had high hopes when I saw the trailer for this, especially given the presence of Isaac who can do no wrong at the moment. Glad to hear he at least holds up his end of the bargain!
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May 10, 2016 at 7:08 pm
Yup, the trailer and the premise certainly set this one up well, Adam, but it just doesn’t deliver. Isaac is the only one to come out of this fairly well. Some of his dialogue is terrible but he makes the most of what he’s got.
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May 10, 2016 at 5:58 pm
Ugh, that’s really frustrating.
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May 10, 2016 at 7:09 pm
Absolutely, Jay. I genuinely thought this could be a quality little sleeper but there’s a good reason why this one faded fast.
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May 24, 2016 at 1:32 pm
[…] just recently viewed Mojave in the hope that I could have been approaching a tense, low-key thriller, I was left sorely […]
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