In the 2000s, after his wrestling career as The Rock, Dwayne Johnson slowly became the Hollywood mega-star he is today. His filmography from those years is therefore peppered with a few films that the actor probably prefers to keep secret today.
But Johnson can go to a sci-fi film proud to this day be, even if it extremely divides opinions. We’re talking about Southland Tales.
Sci-fi madness snubs everyone after cult classic
Southland Tales is written by Richard Kelly, best known for his feature film debut Donnie Darko. Due to the DVD release, the mix of mystery, coming-of-age and sci-fi that first flopped in the cinema later became an extremely popular cult film.
For the subsequent Southland Tales, the director finally threw all conventions overboard. The content of the polarizing second album can hardly be described. Roughly speaking, it’s about a Los Angeles in the very near future where amnesiac action star boxer Santaros (Johnson), an ex-porn actress (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and a beach cop (Seann William Scott) a conspiracy in the midst of the looming apocalypse discover.
Southland Tales quickly turns out to be a completely wacky genre potpourri, for which Kelly throws together topics such as World War III, megalomaniac scientists, alternative energy sources, confusion games, time gaps, conspiracy theories and Bible quotations. And then at some point there is also a Jesus tattoo on the back of Johnson’s character, which begins to bleed.
This turns the sci-fi movie into a experience that is as amazing as it is sprawling, which offends many. With constant surprises in terms of content, dialogues between trashy-senseless and philosophically profound as well as the atmosphere sometimes even reminiscent of the feats of David Lynch, Southland Tales is a chaos trip that everyone should try.
Where is Southland Tales available?
The sci-fi film is currently not available anywhere in the streaming subscription. You can rent or buy Southland Tales from Amazon Prime, for example. *
Podcast for Sci-Fi Fans: Star Trek is the best it’s been in 20 years
Star Trek is one of the most important science fiction series ever. But after the beginning of the new millennium, the franchise slid into crisis. Attempts to restart split the fans – in the cinema as well as on television. Still, Star Trek is as good as it’s been in years.
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In the new episode of the Moviepilot podcast, we explain why you should give the almost 60-year-old sci-fi series a chance and recommend three new series that are definitely worth watching.
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