“Expired” Movie Review
“Expired”
Movie Review
Ivan Sen is the director and
writer of the film Expired, which stars Ryan Kwanten, Jillian Nguyen, and Hugo
Weaving. It tells the story of a worn-out hitman who falls in love in a
dystopian society and is forced to think about his choices as his body
progressively rots away. The movie's plot is as follows: Contract killer Jack,
played by Kwanten, leads a life that is not uncommonly joyful in urban areas.
He is asked to kill "cyber-somethings" in the streets of Hong Kong,
however it is never made clear whether these creatures are robots, androids, or
cyborgs, and there doesn't seem to be any hope of escape. After ten minutes of
nearly complete inactivity, Jack encounters April, a karaoke singing
prostitute, played by Nguyen, and makes a connection with her.
As their relationship grows
stronger, Jack begins to physically decline for no apparent reason. As a
result, he must find Dr. Bergman, a Masuka Corporation scientist who might be
able to reverse this process. The plot of Expired is weak in its foundation, but
it scatters so many strange hints and new information at the viewer that by the
end it fails to make any sense.
Most of Jack's characteristics are
shared by other movie hitmen; they include self-hatred, exhaustion, a desire
for love, and a developing conscience. His actions and emotions are the same as
always, yet there is an intriguing past. As Jack's mother sold him off to an
unidentified individual before he was born and his father isn't at all there,
it appears that souls aren't the only thing in this world that can be sold.
Again, there's something that Expired is hinting to but never pursues in the
hunt for his family, leaving Jack to be a perpetually depressed guy.
In the first scene of the movie,
April completes all of her character development. She is hired to do a show
when she is working at a sort of pub where Jack first encounters her. She
spills out her life narrative without prompting after answering the first
uninteresting question; she is from Vietnam, where it is possible to view the
moon, she didn't have a lot of money, she enjoys singing and ice dancing, and
she is single. She doesn't even know what Jack looks like while telling him
this, which adds to the uncertainty. After clearing things out, she continues
to talk inanely about nothing, much like Jack.
Although there is some
intriguing backstory and potential intrigue, it is a stretch to call these
walking monologues "characters" because neither lead character does
anything other than look blankly and recite nonsensical facts.
The relationship benefits
slightly from the sci-fi element being woven into it because it is a part of
the film. Sen doesn't start or develop the connection in a unique way compared
to most, but his ideas have more substance than the characters that carry them
out.
For Expiration, joining the two
characters is a cumbersome process similar to how most other things are. As
Jack knows April's business card yet acts as though he's never seen her before
when she makes a presentation for him, it's almost like an in media res
introduction. She might desire an intimate relationship that goes beyond the
sexual aspect just as much as he does. Perhaps the reason why both of them
desire to oppose this culture is because it doesn't allow for love. Due to the
setup or transparency being lacking, deduction is difficult.
The world that the film depicts
is what it has going for it. The repeated encounters between Jack and April are
given additional significance despite their clumsy initial connection because
everyone else around them is indifferent to humans and all other living things.
Seeing the two characters finally lie in bed together without doing anything
else demonstrates that the romance thrives on the idea of finding comfort, if
not love in its early phases. Sen isn't out to deliver solutions, which is
detrimental to most portions of Expired.
The screenplay doesn't add much
beyond the general notion of loving someone even when it hurts, so adding
Jack's decline into the mix doesn't really signify much beyond the
metaphorical, but it does give the reader something to consider. Given that
this is a movie, something to see would be ideal, but for the majority of the
duration, the main plot of the relationship is effectively delivered.
The cinematography frequently
switches between hand-held, perfectly stationary, and whirling camerawork. Both
are gratifying in some sequences, but the ones with a lot of speech suffer from
shot-reverse perspectives that are constantly used, dulling the senses along
with the scant soundtrack and breathy acting. Unquestionably, he nails the
setting of the semi-cyberpunk dystopia, but given that Expired was filmed in
China, I believe that was a given.
Repeated scenes and a slow pace
are what ruin the movie. With every scene slowed to a crawl, the
writer/director makes it clear that he wants the audience to consider the
concepts he is putting forward. The stark visuals and some great romance and
plot twists keep Expired alive, but it seems the director overstretched himself
because every aspect of the film that is good is qualified by an asterisk. As
overused beats are added, Expired becomes positively boring.
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