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Willy's Wonderland
There are plot holes that a truck could drive through, but 2021's Willy's Wonderland is an unapologetically bloody action thriller that's from the "put your brain in check and enjoy" school of filmmaking that actually riveted this reviewer to the screen.
In order to get his car repaired, a quiet drifter, played by Oscar winner Nicolas Cage, agrees to clean and restore a condemned children's restaurant/arcade, something akin to the Chuck E. Cheese franchise, called Willy's Wonderland, which is full of some creepy animatronic robots that come to life and try to murder our hero. Meanwhile, there are a group of teenagers who approach the wonderland with the intention of burning it to the ground, but they end up inside and in just as much, if not more danger than our hero, simply billed as "The Janitor".
G O Parsons' debut as a screenwriter has concocted a story that seems to be Westworld meets Friday the 13th with just a dash of Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones where we find alleged machines coming alive and wreaking havoc, promiscuous teenagers being punished for their behavior and backstory that features human sacrifice and group suicide, but the viewer is still left in the dark about a lot of things. We are surprised when the robots begin attacking the janitor, he makes no attempt to escape and takes on every challenge from these mechanical monsters. When he is offered help from the teenagers to get away, he is not interested and when the kids are in trouble, he doesn't lift a finger to help them either. There's also a lot of screentime devoted to the janitor's consumption of what appears to be some sort of energy drink and we think it's going to figure in the story somewhere, but it never really does. Even the allegedly dimwitted Sheriff that is usually part of thrillers like this isn't what she initially appears to be either.
We soon find these story inconsistencies moved to the backburner thanks to the imaginative direction that provides some serious "boos" and some unrelentingly bloody battles between the janitor and the robots and Lewis doesn't rush into it either...I love the first shot of the animatronic robots where the janitor has his back turned to them and we're waiting for an actual attack, and all we get is one robot briefly lifting his wings and putting them right back in place...one of the great movie false starts I've seen in movie thrillers. The robots are actually so terrifying that it's actually hard to believe that they were designed for a children's themed restaurant, but it seems like they really weren't. I also loved the unexpected storytelling gimmick employed where Cage's character doesn't speak a word for the entire running time.
Lewis' camerawork is endlessly imaginative and gets a strong assist from film editor Ryan Liebert. The pacing of what happens here is so electric and distracting enough to make us forget about the plot holes. Cage brings a real Rambo quality to the Janitor and in an offbeat but effective bit of casting, LOVED veteran Beth Grant as the Sheriff. So put your brain in check and enjoy this bloody bumpy ride.
There are plot holes that a truck could drive through, but 2021's Willy's Wonderland is an unapologetically bloody action thriller that's from the "put your brain in check and enjoy" school of filmmaking that actually riveted this reviewer to the screen.
In order to get his car repaired, a quiet drifter, played by Oscar winner Nicolas Cage, agrees to clean and restore a condemned children's restaurant/arcade, something akin to the Chuck E. Cheese franchise, called Willy's Wonderland, which is full of some creepy animatronic robots that come to life and try to murder our hero. Meanwhile, there are a group of teenagers who approach the wonderland with the intention of burning it to the ground, but they end up inside and in just as much, if not more danger than our hero, simply billed as "The Janitor".
G O Parsons' debut as a screenwriter has concocted a story that seems to be Westworld meets Friday the 13th with just a dash of Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones where we find alleged machines coming alive and wreaking havoc, promiscuous teenagers being punished for their behavior and backstory that features human sacrifice and group suicide, but the viewer is still left in the dark about a lot of things. We are surprised when the robots begin attacking the janitor, he makes no attempt to escape and takes on every challenge from these mechanical monsters. When he is offered help from the teenagers to get away, he is not interested and when the kids are in trouble, he doesn't lift a finger to help them either. There's also a lot of screentime devoted to the janitor's consumption of what appears to be some sort of energy drink and we think it's going to figure in the story somewhere, but it never really does. Even the allegedly dimwitted Sheriff that is usually part of thrillers like this isn't what she initially appears to be either.
We soon find these story inconsistencies moved to the backburner thanks to the imaginative direction that provides some serious "boos" and some unrelentingly bloody battles between the janitor and the robots and Lewis doesn't rush into it either...I love the first shot of the animatronic robots where the janitor has his back turned to them and we're waiting for an actual attack, and all we get is one robot briefly lifting his wings and putting them right back in place...one of the great movie false starts I've seen in movie thrillers. The robots are actually so terrifying that it's actually hard to believe that they were designed for a children's themed restaurant, but it seems like they really weren't. I also loved the unexpected storytelling gimmick employed where Cage's character doesn't speak a word for the entire running time.
Lewis' camerawork is endlessly imaginative and gets a strong assist from film editor Ryan Liebert. The pacing of what happens here is so electric and distracting enough to make us forget about the plot holes. Cage brings a real Rambo quality to the Janitor and in an offbeat but effective bit of casting, LOVED veteran Beth Grant as the Sheriff. So put your brain in check and enjoy this bloody bumpy ride.