The Bad Batch

I loved the film. The story and the visuals hit the red line on the weird shit -o -meter but everything is serious and there is an awakening that happens when the director/writer’s messages break through.The range of professional reaction to this film (from Special Jury Prize at the Venice to complete pan) suggests that something is happening on screen that is new and worth seeing. But the critics are not much help in understanding what that is. Everyone mentions the violence and butchery in the dystopian world of the story; some suggest that the “story” is not what the film is about and a few say you should enjoy figuring out the film’s messages. But no one has said what those artful messages are! –at least not that I saw. Amirpour herself refuses to say what her film is about, even after Keanu Reeves asked her on stage at the Q&A following the NYC premiere at the IFC. She won’t explain her art.For me, the breakthrough came when I heard Amirpour describe herself in an interview as an immigrant to America and her film as a “love poem” to the country.After hearing that, the “awakening “hit me. I bought the film on Amazon watched it again.Here is my take. Yours may differ. The Bad Batch is not meant to be merely a dystopian future America per the info summary; it stands for America, past and present. The film hints at this meaning with the many American flags that appear throughout in the background. As the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty reads: “Give me… the wretched refuse from your teeming shores.” By and large our ancestors were not the elite of the countries from which they came. And many of our forebears landed here in chains against their will, as Arlen does. The Bad Batch is a fit put-down name for America, one that was probably used in Europe & elsewhere in some form. Hey, turns out, the name is ironic, as Amirpour reminds us by repeating now.This makes the film “about” the immigrant experience. But from the first, Amirpour charts a different course from the prior cinematic attempts to tell the immigrant story. First, the immigrant is a woman, traveling alone. We do not “see” what happened to her on screen– what we do see is a visual poem of scenes meant to convey how she felt about what happened to her and who was involved.Elia Kazan’s America America took a straight narrative approach to the immigrant’s story, fifty years ago. It’s three hours of fine film, but honestly, I don’t think it compares to the first reel of The Bad Batch for conveying the terror, pain, and determination of the successful immigrant experience.Reeves and Carey are brilliant in their roles, although Carey is just a cameo (masterpiece). Again, they are conveying feelings of the immigrant as she participates in American society. Sometimes the real help comes from the people society values the least. And sometimes the society is led by a dope-pushing flimflam man who wants everyone to do a lame dance to a 90’s bigbox and a lot of us do it.Jason Mamoa and Suki Waterhouse of course carry the entire film-they are always interesting to watch- and they wind up pulling off something that I’ve never seen done before on stage or in film: the realistic reconciliation of a good person with one who has embraced absolute evil. This is a five-star art film.

This is an extraordinary film that will confound, disappoint, bother, or even anger many viewers, because it provides a completely different set of rewards than you’d expect given its setting and subject matter -- and, alas, its marketing. Fans of conventional sci-fi and horror attracted by the film's misleading tagline (which I won't repeat here, in case you haven't heard it) are responsible for the film's poor IMDB rating. Half the critics missed it, too -- even more than audiences, they are prone to judging a movie based on what they expect it's trying to accomplish, rather than its actual aims.Here's the problem (or glory, depending on your POV). As a rule of thumb, films tell you what they're about by their style and their trappings, and what happens in the opening scenes. THE BAD BATCH opens in a recognizably post-apocalyptic sort of setting (although it actually isn't -- more on that in a moment) and immediately features brutal, grisly violence. But the story that unfolds is completely unlike what you'd expect given that beginning. You have to keep watching with an open mind.To begin with, it's not shot like an action / adventure movie. The pace is measured, even contemplative, and the camera lingers on the actors' faces. In other words, it's shot like a family drama ... and in a way it is. I was moved nearly to tears by the movie's climax; to say that was the last thing I expected after the opening scenes would be a massive understatement.It is, above all, tremendously thought-provoking. (And you now can see that in two or three important ways it's the polar opposite of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, a very clear influence and of course brilliant in its own completely different way.) First and foremost, it's an examination of the nature of morality and moral choices. There's a scene where you will ask yourself whether the act you have just seen was justified, indefensible, or some indescribable mixture of the two, even as you watch Suki Waterhouse (in a tremendous breakout performance) ask herself the same question -- what have I just done, and was it good or bad? The moral situation at the movie's end unconsciously evokes Ursula K. Le Guin's classic short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" (after a special screening in Boston, writer / director Ana Lily Amirpour confirmed she was unfamiliar with it).It's also a potent and cutting commentary on the problem of income inequality. The movie is actually set in the near future, where "bad batch" characters are exiled to a lawless fenced enclave in the former Texas desert, and left to fend for themselves. Unlike an actual post-apocalyptic setting, there's no inherited privileged class, and there's a lot less wealth for the powerful to hoard. It's never spoken of, but the characters seem always aware that whatever luxury they can achieve pales beside that which they left behind. It changes their psychology completely. So although the trappings are completely familiar, the situation is in fact utterly original. That originality underlies the moral situation and the depth of characterization.The movie defies another convention: it never bothers to explain what seem (on surface) to be unlikely elements of the portrayed world. However, Amirpour says she did extensive world-building and even devised complete back stories for every character. Her strategy is to keep viewers as uninformed as the characters themselves. That may bother some, but I think it adds immensely to the movie's weight and power.The film features a fine turn by Keanu Reeves as the leader of a settlement called (perhaps without irony) Comfort, and a wordless and barely recognizable Jim Carrey in a few key scenes, at least one of which is darkly hilarious. Giavanni Ribisi and Diego Luna show up in small roles, so you know that people wanted to do this movie. Jason Momoa (Aquaman) is excellent in a lead role, but it's Waterhouse that ultimately makes it all work.It's shot almost entirely outdoors, and it's so impressive to look at that I regret having been unable to see it on the largest possible screen. It borrows many familiar trappings but is almost startling in its refusal to use them in stereotypical ways, and it haunted my brain for days afterwards, beginning the moment the lights went up. In short, it's an exemplary addition to the small but growing group of art-house science fiction films. It more than fulfills the promise of Amirpour's art-house horror debut, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, and marks her as a major figure to watch in genre cinema.

Strange. Trippy. I enjoyed it for the most part.

I like futuristic crazy apocalyptical stuff. This fills the bill. The girl is a beautiful babe, who soon gets a dose of reality by being half eaten to death. She then makes her way to a drug farm run by Keanu Reeves. Spends time there as a sex slave, then somehow she ends up back in the arms of the cannibal who ate her leg.

The movie was sent to me immediately I appreciate the owner detroit what !I would order a movie again if he has one I’mlooking for!!!!!! ThanksC J

This movie was the most non-sensical and scatterbrain movie that I ever viewed. The rating should be the ultimate zero. What amazed me is that Kennu Reeves and Jason Mamoa even consider participating in this trash. The price for this DVD was fairly cheap and otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it. Was supposed to be a Sci-Fi film but it was so cheap in story value and direction, it can't even rate Sci-Fi. Dog of a movie. Don't waste you time like I did.