Listen!
Do you hear that noise?
It sounds like someone screaming out...
"DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!”
With this film, Murphy cements himself as the new Stallone, spreading his wings and falling flat on his face in this dud of a flick that sits in your stomach like a bad week-old burger you ate for breakfast because you kept forgetting to go to the supermarket to get milk and Kahlua for your Coco Pops.
What the hell happened to this guy? Is this the same guy who made me laugh 'til I cried with his live performances? If so, he’s gone from “Goonigoogoo” to “Kakkicaca” with this effort.
I expect that Murphy’s agent quickly became chief fry cook at McDonalds once the world saw what a great big pile of shit they had created. Costing about a hundred million to make, it was shelved for two years before release. It made about a hundred bucks back (okay, 4.5 million to be factual) making it one hell of an expensive flop.
But why does this stinker stink like the stinking pile of stink that this stinker is? Let us examine...
Murphy is Pluto Nash, a well known crim famous for his smuggling exploits. Fresh outta jail, he promptly takes over a friend's failing club and the two million dollar debt to the mob who financed it. Moving forward seven years, we see the club is now a thriving hotspot raking in the spundoolies.
Oh, did I mention all this is happening on the moon? I didn’t? Never mind, it doesn’t really matter. It could have been set in Siberia for all that it matters.
But it seems that secretive Mr. Big Casino owner, Rex Crater, has taken an interest in Nash’s club and wants to buy it. Nash says no. Crater blows said club up. Nash, his personal bodyguard (an outdated robot played by Randy Quaid) and a wannabe singer (Rosario Dawson) go on the run and try to square things up with Crater, while Crater’s henchmen chase them with guns blazing and phasers apparently set to “miss”.
So it is written. So it shall be. So it sucks.
It’s never certain whether it’s a comedy (I laughed twice, so it’s not likely), or an action film (lots of running and shooting, but nothing exciting, so that’s not likely either), or a flimsy pile of flabby star-studded junk masquerading as entertainment (yeah, that’s probably the one).
I think the problem is that Murphy doesn’t seem to want to be a comedic schlub in this film, and this pissed people off. Once word got out that he barely cracks a smartass quip, people stayed away in droves.
“So, what film did you see on the weekend?”
“Pluto Nash, with Eddie Murphy.”
“Was he funny?”
“Nope, he tried to do action instead.”
“Screw that. I’m going to see The Hours then.”
So why the hell was he even in it? Did he think this was going to win him an Oscar? Answer that question and you’ll probably know more about movie making than most executives in Hollywood.
Personally, I’m glad they lost 95 million dollars on this turkey. Hopefully now they’ll never try something so stupid ever again (wishful thinking, I know).
This has a fairly good picture regardless of the content, so it’s got that going for it, if you really must see it for yourself. There’s much in the way of nice contrast between the darker/duller areas of the sets and the bright lights/neon/clothing of the film, the delineation pulling focus on the targets well. It follows a typical futuristic drab grey colour scheme with vivid items setting it off, such as a bright green feather duster. Grain is variable, seeming to fluctuate with the amount of CGI in a given shot, as too does the overall sharpness, which is a bit soft. The CGI doesn’t always look very good, something that the clarity of DVD doesn’t help any. Good examples of bad CGI can be seen whenever a vehicle pulls away from a location, revealing a fakeness that shouldn’t have been there with 100 million to blow (I think it all went to the cast instead). The aspect ratio is a nice Joe Average friendly 1.78:1, and is 16:9 enhanced.
The DD5.1 audio is good enough to please in most respects. Taking its cues from the action-led scenes, the activity in the rear channels becomes more lively during the various shoot outs and mooncar chases, with enough directional cues and panning to keep you happy. To that end, laser blasts come from the rears when appropriate, and a car or two might swoosh from the front of the room to the back to good effect, creating a reasonable audio environment which matches the on-screen action. Dialogue sounds fine, not that you’d miss anything important if it wasn’t. Layered within the score and the effects, it all stays balanced and well defined, if a little limp at worst.
Sure, at the end of the day, this is just a movie after all. But at the end of the day, it’s also still a crap movie. For those more interested in the quality of a DVD, rather than the movie it holds, be satisfied with the sound and picture quality which are both good, but the slim bonus pickings reveal just how little extra money the studio was going to waste on this expensive exercise in fluffing its stars.
I suggest you avoid Pluto Nash and rent RAW or Delirious on video instead. I’m sure it’s how Eddie Murphy would rather be remembered.