At Rivervale High School, Trevor Adams is a bullied outcast trying to fit back in after a false bomb threat he made a few months ago. Trevor is chosen to star in a play called Bang Bang You’re Dead as the main character, Josh. After parents and the community hear of the play and its lead actor, it stirs up quite the controversy in the town.
Directed by Guy Ferland (Sons Of Anarchy and The Shield)
Written by William Mastrosimone (Into The West)
Starring Ben Foster (3:10 To Yuma, Lone Survivor) Tom Cavanagh (Ed, Scrubs)
Funnily enough the reason I rented this film was because I had just watched ‘Hostage’ in the cinemas and Ben Foster was stuck in my mind because of how awesome he was in that film, I was at the local video store and my mum was looking at the DVD and mentioned it to me, so naturally I said let’s get it because of Ben and damn am I glad we did, in a very small way it can speak to you (specially if like me you had a bit of a rough time in school with being bullied or singled out) but it does have a very solid story and a very valid point to its existence and it tells it in a little bit of a different way than the usual films of this nature.
If you keep in mind that this film was made only a few years after the Columbine School Shooting and before the September 11 Terrorist Attacks you will know that it was quite the risky subject to tackle in a film, specially that of a film that was going straight to daytime TV, the issues raised and the influence the play has had on the school system is quite amazing.
The acting overall isn’t that bad, Ben Foster obviously being the stand out here but the majority of the young actors here aren’t as flat or basic as you’d expect to see, a few young faces of some actors I’ve seen in a few bigger projects and a few I would have thought would go on to do more, the only cringe acting in the whole film is when they do the school play towards the end and they go into typical teenager mode but I’d put that down to the script asking for it to be that way more than the way they actually act.
The obvious theme of the film is ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ but as the film goes on it’s also a study into how interactions with certain people in school or in town or your own parents can push a young mind into a depressed state that can make him/her do many things they will regret, but in this case it pushes Trevor to use what’s around him to bring to light just how nasty everyone around him can be and how one small mistake in his past made him the scapegoat for the whole town.
My favourite and probably the most important part of the film would have to be when Trevor (the main character) is in a meeting with the school principal, teachers, his parents and the local police about an incident that happened at school, and as part of the meeting they decide to watch one of the tapes the police took from his room and it shows an edited version of what he’s been filming since his return to school, without giving away to much it is quite a dramatic scene that does a good job at bringing out those high emotions and giving everyone the time to take a long hard look at themselves, it’s the type of scene that if not pulled off the way it was it could have easily broke the mood and ruined the entire movie.
It originally aired on Showtime not in cinemas so there is no box office takings recorded but considering the film was made in 2001 released in 2002 but not put on DVD and distributed till 2004 I would say it wasn’t a massive success, and considering the amount of people I’ve talked to about this film are unaware of its existence I would say it’s a very underrated film that needs to be seen.
It’s a little dated, the camera work is slightly reminiscent of a TV movie at times and the editing is a little off in a couple of parts, it’s also a little preachy at times but we could all see that coming considering the subject matter, and although the ending isn’t anything special it does leave you feeling happy you’ve spent the time to watch it, and I’m really glad I watched this all those years ago instead of another action film or pointless comedy.
I’m not sure if you’ll be able to find this movie easily but if you do come across it, give it a chance, you won’t regret it.
Cinephile Thoughts 