The Cover

The answer to that is simple, of course: nothing. It'd go nowhere. And unfortunately, that's exactly where this film goes, and I'm pissed about it. This would be a great movie if not for the fact that it wasn't. Garage Days is something of a departure for director Alex Proyas, better known for his dark movies including Dark City (one of my favorite flicks), I, Robot and The Crow. Proyas is infinitely good at creating lonely characters that must struggle their way through the world; he's not so good at creating a sense of "fun."

The redeeming element is that the film is stylish with the kind of flair that you would expect from an experimental, independent director. The problem is that the script and acting is so wildly uneven that you can't even enjoy the good parts without being shocked into horror by the terrible ones. There are some truly awful jokes and sitcom moments that make the final episode of Friends seem like a David Sedaris masterpiece.

The other downside of the movie is the fact that it's quintessentially an Australian story and one that doesn't exactly translate well. Had it been better, Garage Days would have been the equivalent of Trainspotting - a stylish movie with a lot of weird drug material. Strangely, a good part of the film is about drugs, and it proves to be the most enjoyable part. Visually, the movie cribs a lot from those movies that have gone before it (including Requiem for a Dream) and again this proves to be its greatest downfall: The style of the movie, overtakes the story. Ultimately, I don't care about these kids or their stupid little dream.

Movie Grade: C-

Video: 4 out of 5
Nice looking transfer.
Widescreen Anamorphic - 1.85:1 / Full Screen - 1.33:1

Woo! Right on! Rock!

Audio: 3 out of 5
There's not a lot of music that really rocks, which is strange considering that the movie is about a band. What's there is more of the wacky sound-effect variety, and it's all good.
English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

Extras: 3 out of 5
A commentary track with Proyas is the biggest highlight. He talks honestly about the movie, not proclaiming it his best work, but talking about how different an experience it was. Otherwise, there's about 20 minutes of small featurettes, including deleted scenes, outtakes and behind the scenes. Not much there, and nothing you'd watch more than once.

Overall: 2 out of 5
It's just not a great movie, despite the director and the very likeable cast. The story is scattershot, and you don't care about the characters and their needs. Too bad.

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