The Salton Sea (2002)

3.5 stars out of 4

The Bottom Line:

Artfully constructed, splendidly acted (especially in a career-best turn by D'Onofrio as the inimitable "Pooh Bear") and consistently engaging, The Salton Sea is a neo-noir that might have made the originals proud. December 18, 2008

The Salton Sea

If you like movies that are not the norm and kind of trippy, like "Another Day in Paradise", you'll love The Salton Sea. It's a trippy, druggy movie with a little twist. It's got some comedy, nice visuals, some action and it's just good. September 22, 2008

Good

Recently I watched DVDs of 2 of the latest films in the Kilmer canon- his portrayal of a man on a mission in The Salton Sea & his portrayal of porno king Johnny `Wadd' Holmes in Wonderland. Both films attempt to be modern noir films, & in both films Kilmer plays a character that has 2 sides to his persona. In The Salton Sea he portrays a dual character Danny Parker/Tom Van Allen. The former is a crystal meth dealer & the latter a jazzman. The film is a stylistic masterpiece that is every bit the equal of the far more lauded Memento- a similar story about a troubled man searching for himself & the truth to his wife's death. Kilmer sinks into the role of Tom, as an avenging husband whose wife was brutally killed by 2 gunmen near the Salton Sea. Tom decides to become Danny, & work with 2 crooked undercover cops (Doug Hutchison and Anthony LaPaglia) to expose the drug cartel he believes is responsible for his wife. Along the way he encounters 1 of the great modern onscreen personifications of evil- a drug dealer named Pooh-Bear (Vincent D'Onofrio) who wears a fake nosepiece because his real nose was burnt off by cocaine use. Along with Daniel Day Lewis's Bill the Butcher in Gangs Of New York, Pooh-Bear is one of those cartoony villains that nevertheless seems to be just real enough to lift the whole of the story beyond standard noir. The real forces Tom contends against in the film are almost surreal as the cinematography & Danny's hallucinations. Pooh-Bear's idea of fun is eating brains, staging the JFK assassination with pigeons and a mini-car set, & threatening Danny with having his gonads eaten by a badger.
Director D.J. Caruso and screenwriter Tony Gayton do a fine job of creating a world that Kilmer's dual personae feel right at home with. He seems to die several times, only to wake up back in his hell. The film is shot surreally, with low angles, frames just off-center, & flashbacks & dreams that happen in odd places- even in the barrel of a pistol. But what lifts this film to true greatness, like Memento, is Kilmer's performance. His blend of fear, weariness, & bravado echoes back to his work in The Doors, yet surpasses it because this character is his total creation, not a recitation of a real figure.
September 20, 2008

Great Movie with realistic hidden twists

This is a great movie with several great twists that are unexpected but realistic. It is very hard to have both, but this movie pulls it off. I am a great fan of Val Kilmer, that's why I wrote a bio about him, he is a great actor that is not after the money - so he ends up in underrated movies that no one has heard of, instead of overrated movies that everyone hs heard of.Blessed, Life and Films of Val Kilmer September 3, 2008

Salton Sea

Great movie, the copy we got was in good condition upon arrival. If you have not seen this movie don't be surprised if at the end you are saying "WOW!". August 26, 2008

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