Grade: D+
Synopsis: A photographer (Bradley Cooper) grows increasingly obsessed with a serial killer (Vinnie Jones) stalking the late-night passengers of a subway train.
This is going to be one of those reviews that compares the film to its source material. While this may not be fair to the movie, it’s the simplest way to explain why The Midnight Meat Train is so damn frustrating.
First, the story by Clive Barker is set in New York. No, check that, the story is about New York. About how old the city is, how it has a character all its own, how living so close to so many people can leave you feeling alone.
The film is set in Los Angeles.
The story follows two characters, Leon a lonely office worker and Mahogany, a lonely serial killer. Both go about the meticulous details of their jobs with dispassionate pride. When they finally meet and Leon kills Mahogany in self-defense, the story comes full circle making a statement about the lengths people will go in order to be part of something.
Jeff Buhler’s script changes Leon to a vegan photographer with a live-in girlfriend. This Leon couldn’t have less in common with Mahogany, but the film retains the story’s ending, which now feels very forced and makes no sense. Worst of all, they’re missing the big reveal at the end, the God-moment that provides Leon with the epiphany he’d been longing for.
These aren’t changes as much as they’re compromises. The budget won’t support a New York shoot? Fine, we’ll shoot in LA. The story needs some female characters? Fine, we’ll give Leon a girlfriend and add a female cop? Leon is too boring? Fine, we’ll make him a photographer. Script seems a little too Hollywood? Fine, we’ll throw in a half-assed vegetarian metaphor.
Fortunately, it’s not all bad. Vinnie Jones is dead-perfect as the imposing Mahogany, and the prosthetic special effects are a lot of fun, but ultimately they’re not enough to overcome the disappointing script.
