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Wander (2021)

Winston T. Boogie

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Title: Wander

Tagline: If you're not paranoid, you're not paying attention.

Genre: Action, Thriller

Director: April Mullen

Cast: Katheryn Winnick, Heather Graham, Tommy Lee Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Brendan Fehr, Raymond Cruz, Nicole Steinwedell, Heath Hensley, David Gibson, Stephen R. Estler, Celine R. Lopez, Deborah Chavez, Harriet Divine

Release: 2021

Runtime: 1

Plot: After getting hired to probe a suspicious death in the small town of Wander, a mentally unstable private investigator becomes convinced the case is linked to the same 'conspiracy cover up' that caused the death of his daughter.

 

Winston T. Boogie

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Wander poster.jpg
 

Winston T. Boogie

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This is out today on DVD, no Blu-ray for this for some reason. The DVD does come with a digital code. I did discover it was available to rent back in December for $6.99 but at the time thought I would wait for the Blu-ray...which is not coming. So, I will probably watch this soon.
 

Malcolm R

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Seems to be a trend with Paramount recently. Last year they released both The Vanished and The Corrupted on DVD only as well (and probably others).
 

Jeffrey D

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Hard to understand why any contemporary film gets a DVD release, and no BluRay. I stopped buying DVDs a long time ago.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Hard to understand why any contemporary film gets a DVD release, and no BluRay. I stopped buying DVDs a long time ago.

Yes, I mean if they were only going to release it in one format it would have been nice if it was Blu-ray.

I did watch this picture and well...it's a bit of a muddle. It seems to want to sort of comment on a variety of things that are hot button issues these days. It oddly immediately references the treatment of people of color and immigrants with a message on the screen before the film starts...but the story is not really about this and is more just a thriller that features a good group of actors in the central parts. As you can see by the cast list the actors are Tommy Lee Jones, Aaron Eckhart, and Heather Graham...um...so there is not a focus here on people of color. Which makes that opening message seem...well...very out of place and not necessary not to mention this is quite obviously a fictional story so again, not really exploring the plight of immigrants.

Eckhart is the central character and he is a private detective working insurance fraud cases that has suffered some severe trauma, was fired as a police officer for some questionable behavior, and now also is a conspiracy theorist that hosts a radio show with his friend played by Tommy Lee Jones about far out conspiracies.

Being that we are living in a time when wacko conspiracy theories are all the rage and now affect our day to day lives this seemed an interesting topic for a film. Sadly, the film does not delve into this idea really either using it more as window dressing/setting.

Jones, an actor I really like, gets little to do in the picture. Heather Graham really gets next to nothing to do as well. Their parts are poorly written and sort of flatly acted. Eckhart has the main part and basically the film never asks you to believe he is not totally unhinged...which leaves a character arc of unhinged to unhinged. Meaning there isn't one.

We are supposed to follow the mystery but it never really becomes particularly interesting with the one aspect of this chase being can you trust anything at all that Eckhart says or sees as he is quite obviously nuts and is our unreliable narrator. This is just a poorly thought out yarn that is badly executed and seems not to know what it really wants to say. Everything is telegraphed and in terms of suspense...well...I think you have to relate to the characters to feel some suspense.

So, in the end, not recommended.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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So, basically this is the gist of the opening message that appears before the film starts...

"In honor of all Indigenous, Black and People of Color who are targeted and have been displaced through border control on stolen land. May Wander help to expose government violences, propel change and honor the Voices of those who have been silenced."

Now, that may not be the exact opening scroll but that is basically what it is saying. With that being the opening to the picture you would think, or expect, that perhaps the film would tell a story from the perspective of a person or persons that are referred to...it does not nor does it even come close. There is a reference to people like this being abused but because the main character appears so unhinged I'm not sure if that reference is meant to be real or imagined in the context of the story.

I'm not sure how this film, Wander, would help expose anything as it is a fictional yarn told through a character that is obviously an unreliable narrator.
 
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