Ang Lee has more talent in his pinky finger than the average human has in their entire body. People know him most from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain. While I feel both of those films are superb, neither is his best work. That honor goes to The Ice Storm; a brewing and intense drama that takes place in the early 1970’s and was my second favorite film of 1997. Upon near universal acclaim for that film, Lee gathered financing for hiss next flick, Ride with the Devil. When released in late 1999, it was lost amidst a year end shuffle and basically disappeared before it even appeared. Despite Lee being one of my favorite working directors, I never sought the film out on video and DVD. However, the film recently ran on IFC and I DVR’d it and finally got around to watching it tonight. All I can say is that Matt Damon was one smart dude to pass this up in favor of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Ride with the Devil is a well made film, but one that could put an insomniac to sleep.It’s no wonder I never got around to seeing it. When it comes to films, I can usually tell whether I am going to like the film about 95% of the time. It’s all about expectations. I know when I walk into a horror film or even a Jason Statham film for that matter that I’m not going to judge it on the same scale as I’d judge a Scorsese of David Lynch film. But sadly Ride with the Devil is an exercise in ego. The characters are flat, the film is entirely too long and aside from Jeffrey Wright, ever single character is miscast. To make matters worse, Ang Lee gave Jewel a lead role and she didn’t even have to show her boobies (No, the breast feeding scenes does *not* count). I guess we should thank him from keeping her from yodeling. {Scratch that...the credits are still rolling and there is a Jewel song}
The film is well shot and has some well thought out action sequences, but this can not save the film. I can always tell the quality of a script and story based on my feelings of the characters. Do I care about them? Am I engaged in their pain, happiness and conflict? This film left me cold and bewildered and whenever something happened in this film (good or bad), I felt indifferent. Ang Lee rebounded triumphantly winning an Oscar for Crouching Tiger just a year later and since then, has made a series of films that entrance me (and I include the Hulk in that category). Ride with the Devil is a film that should work and had everything going for it, but is proof that even great directors can misfire at times.
