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From my never updated/never read blog:
Joseph Kahn
Director of Torque Writer/Director of Detention
Joseph Kahn began his film career directing music videos for artists like The Backstreet Boys, Blink 182, and Britney Spears, but it's his short, yet fascinating, film directing career that I want to discuss. Mostly because I'm not a music video connoisseur!
Kahn's directorial debut, Torque, came hot off the heels of the craze of the first two Fast and Furious films (a series that has somehow spawned 4 sequels with a 5th on the way) and, unfortunately, was pretty well ignored. Off of a $40 million budget, the film only grossed $46.5 million worldwide. I can speculate the reason for its poor box office reception all day, but if you've seen the film thinking it was Fast and Furious on motorcycles, then you probably already know why it failed.
Torque is not The Fast and the Furious. While the films share a love of fast vehicles and stylized violence, they split greatly in tone. Torque isn't as much a film about fast motorcycles as it is a dissection of the road race film sub-genre overflowing with pop culture references and wrapped up in a shiny gloss of music video images and beautiful people. Everything in Torque is dialed all the way up to 11. The people on display are all beautiful, near-model perfection. The motorcycles are speedy blurs of revving engines and death-defying stunts. Even the product placement is an over-enthusiastic assault on the senses; there's no doubt that Budweiser paid good money to have their beer on display.
And that is all by design. Kahn has crafted a film that is a loud, over-the-top assault on the senses that plays as part parody part love letter of the street racing action sub-genre. Upon viewing Torque it's easy to see how the film was ignored by fans of the Fast and Furious series. Based on promotional material alone, the film comes off as a straight rip-off of the F&F series. While it certainly is cashing in on the popularity of those films, Torque is not a rip-off so much as a send up of The Fast and the Furious. It's also a ridiculous yet fun film despite going completely off the rails by the end.
Speaking of completely off the rails, Joseph Kahn's latest film, Detention, does just that.
Actually, we'll just say that Kahn was thinking outside the box when writing this film. Way, way outside the box!
Detention is easily one of the funnest films I've seen in a long time. It's also a big sloppy mess.
*SPOILERS WITHIN* If you enjoy offbeat films and think something like this would be your thing, I highly encourage you to watch the film before reading anything more of this post!
Unlike Torque, Detention was also written by Joseph Kahn and Mark Palermo in his first feature writing credit. I'm under the suspicion that Kahn feared never being able to make another film after this one because I can't imagine any rational reason so many off-the-wall ideas and concepts could make it into one film. But they did. And, against all conventional film wisdom, they work. Of course, there's nothing conventional about Detention.
Based on the trailer and the first half an hour of this film one would think that it is just another teen slasher film. To expect that going in to this film would be completely wrong.
Detention throws sci-fi and horror concepts at the audience with a rapid-fire abandon that is truly mind-blowing. There's time travel, mind/body swapping, doomsday devices, aliens (and alien bears!?!), and serial killers all bundled in a typical coming of age high school story.
Much like Kahn's first film, Detention is a dissection of the high school horror sub-genre while also being a strong entry in the genre itself. It throws pop culture references at the audience faster than most can land. The film is specifically steeped in 90s references and, despite the young cast, was clearly intended for an audience that came of age in the first half of that decade. Even with the clear 90s spin, the film plays on all manner of pop culture references. There is a cheerleader who uses the term "rad" and dances to early 90s pop music. There's a police officer who speaks almost entirely in Internet memes. There's conversations that play out via cell phone texting. There's a film within the film within the film that's downloaded via the pirated work print. There's direct references to the Scream franchise as well as Torque and there's plot similarities to dozens of films including The Faculty, Donnie Darko, Saw, and even 3 O'Clock High.
Let me just say it again; I really loved this film, despite the absolute absurdity of the plot. The film flies along with near reckless abandon, sometimes bouncing from one plot point to the next so quickly that the viewer can barely allow it to register. This is actually a good thing, because the film requires a suspension of disbelief great enough to accept a school mascot time machine and a student trapped in detention for over 19 years. If the audience is allowed moments to breathe the plot crumbles under it's own ridiculousness, but if you can accept silly plot lines for pure entertainment this film is a roller coaster great time.
Joseph Kahn is certainly an interesting voice in cinema, despite having only directed two films. I have no idea how the man gets his films funded, considering how insane they are and given the fact that his films tend to poke fun at other properties, but I'm glad he is working in cinema. I'd love to see Kahn take on a project that isn't as sardonic as Torque and Detention, but even if he stays in his particular wheelhouse I'll remain interested in any project he has in the future.
Joseph Kahn
Director of Torque Writer/Director of Detention
Joseph Kahn began his film career directing music videos for artists like The Backstreet Boys, Blink 182, and Britney Spears, but it's his short, yet fascinating, film directing career that I want to discuss. Mostly because I'm not a music video connoisseur!
Kahn's directorial debut, Torque, came hot off the heels of the craze of the first two Fast and Furious films (a series that has somehow spawned 4 sequels with a 5th on the way) and, unfortunately, was pretty well ignored. Off of a $40 million budget, the film only grossed $46.5 million worldwide. I can speculate the reason for its poor box office reception all day, but if you've seen the film thinking it was Fast and Furious on motorcycles, then you probably already know why it failed.
Torque is not The Fast and the Furious. While the films share a love of fast vehicles and stylized violence, they split greatly in tone. Torque isn't as much a film about fast motorcycles as it is a dissection of the road race film sub-genre overflowing with pop culture references and wrapped up in a shiny gloss of music video images and beautiful people. Everything in Torque is dialed all the way up to 11. The people on display are all beautiful, near-model perfection. The motorcycles are speedy blurs of revving engines and death-defying stunts. Even the product placement is an over-enthusiastic assault on the senses; there's no doubt that Budweiser paid good money to have their beer on display.
And that is all by design. Kahn has crafted a film that is a loud, over-the-top assault on the senses that plays as part parody part love letter of the street racing action sub-genre. Upon viewing Torque it's easy to see how the film was ignored by fans of the Fast and Furious series. Based on promotional material alone, the film comes off as a straight rip-off of the F&F series. While it certainly is cashing in on the popularity of those films, Torque is not a rip-off so much as a send up of The Fast and the Furious. It's also a ridiculous yet fun film despite going completely off the rails by the end.
Speaking of completely off the rails, Joseph Kahn's latest film, Detention, does just that.
Actually, we'll just say that Kahn was thinking outside the box when writing this film. Way, way outside the box!
Detention is easily one of the funnest films I've seen in a long time. It's also a big sloppy mess.
*SPOILERS WITHIN* If you enjoy offbeat films and think something like this would be your thing, I highly encourage you to watch the film before reading anything more of this post!
Unlike Torque, Detention was also written by Joseph Kahn and Mark Palermo in his first feature writing credit. I'm under the suspicion that Kahn feared never being able to make another film after this one because I can't imagine any rational reason so many off-the-wall ideas and concepts could make it into one film. But they did. And, against all conventional film wisdom, they work. Of course, there's nothing conventional about Detention.
Based on the trailer and the first half an hour of this film one would think that it is just another teen slasher film. To expect that going in to this film would be completely wrong.
Detention throws sci-fi and horror concepts at the audience with a rapid-fire abandon that is truly mind-blowing. There's time travel, mind/body swapping, doomsday devices, aliens (and alien bears!?!), and serial killers all bundled in a typical coming of age high school story.
Much like Kahn's first film, Detention is a dissection of the high school horror sub-genre while also being a strong entry in the genre itself. It throws pop culture references at the audience faster than most can land. The film is specifically steeped in 90s references and, despite the young cast, was clearly intended for an audience that came of age in the first half of that decade. Even with the clear 90s spin, the film plays on all manner of pop culture references. There is a cheerleader who uses the term "rad" and dances to early 90s pop music. There's a police officer who speaks almost entirely in Internet memes. There's conversations that play out via cell phone texting. There's a film within the film within the film that's downloaded via the pirated work print. There's direct references to the Scream franchise as well as Torque and there's plot similarities to dozens of films including The Faculty, Donnie Darko, Saw, and even 3 O'Clock High.
Let me just say it again; I really loved this film, despite the absolute absurdity of the plot. The film flies along with near reckless abandon, sometimes bouncing from one plot point to the next so quickly that the viewer can barely allow it to register. This is actually a good thing, because the film requires a suspension of disbelief great enough to accept a school mascot time machine and a student trapped in detention for over 19 years. If the audience is allowed moments to breathe the plot crumbles under it's own ridiculousness, but if you can accept silly plot lines for pure entertainment this film is a roller coaster great time.
Joseph Kahn is certainly an interesting voice in cinema, despite having only directed two films. I have no idea how the man gets his films funded, considering how insane they are and given the fact that his films tend to poke fun at other properties, but I'm glad he is working in cinema. I'd love to see Kahn take on a project that isn't as sardonic as Torque and Detention, but even if he stays in his particular wheelhouse I'll remain interested in any project he has in the future.
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