Journey to the End of the Night has a wonderful cast and an interesting premise. From that starting point, however, its all downhill. The film collapses into such a morass of cliché, confusion, and violence that it leaves you wondering why you bothered to take the journey with it.
Set in Sao Paulo, the film is (I guess) striving for a tone of gritty realism. Mos Def is, quite honestly, superb in his portrayal of a Nigerian immigrant drawn abruptly into a world of corruption. He is the only real winner in this sorry affair - the sky is the limit for this wonderfully talented actor. Catalina Sandino Moreno and Alice Braga also do not discredit themselves, but they are playing for a losing team.
The film dissolves in a mish-mash of stock characterizations and improbable plot turns. "Good" bad girls, corrupt cops, drug deals gone bad - we've seen this all before, but here there is not enough internal logic to make us believe in any of it. Ultimately, in the film's violent, climactic scene, the cliché-level becomes so high that the sounds of laughter you hear are from people laughing at the film, not with it. Sorry to say, but Journey to the End of the Night is not a journey worth taking.
Set in Sao Paulo, the film is (I guess) striving for a tone of gritty realism. Mos Def is, quite honestly, superb in his portrayal of a Nigerian immigrant drawn abruptly into a world of corruption. He is the only real winner in this sorry affair - the sky is the limit for this wonderfully talented actor. Catalina Sandino Moreno and Alice Braga also do not discredit themselves, but they are playing for a losing team.
The film dissolves in a mish-mash of stock characterizations and improbable plot turns. "Good" bad girls, corrupt cops, drug deals gone bad - we've seen this all before, but here there is not enough internal logic to make us believe in any of it. Ultimately, in the film's violent, climactic scene, the cliché-level becomes so high that the sounds of laughter you hear are from people laughing at the film, not with it. Sorry to say, but Journey to the End of the Night is not a journey worth taking.