VANish (2015) [Blu-ray]
Action | Crime | Horror | Thriller

Tagline: The sh*t's about to hit the van

Storyline: A kidnapped young woman is forced on a road trip full of murder and mayhem that takes place entirely in her captor's getaway van.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Michael Reuben, February 21, 2015 -- In 1996, Robert Rodriguez published Rebel Without a Crew, in which he recounted the making of his breakthrough film, El Mariachi, at an initial production cost of just $7000. VANish, the first feature film by writer, director, producer and co-star Bryan Bockbrader, carries a special acknowledgment to Rodriguez, which Bockbrader has said is entirely because of the detailed advice provided by the director's book. Perhaps even more important than such practical elements as the appendix that Rodriguez entitled "The Ten Minute Film Course" is the can-do spirit that animates the whole of Rodriguez's account, which is the opposite of that found among so many who inhabit the fringes of show business bemoaning their lack of opportunity. Rodriguez created his opportunity simply by doing the work: writing, shooting, editing, applying his imagination to transform limitations into creative solutions. Bockbrader brought the same initiative to VANish, and the result, while its influences are easy to spot, is startlingly fresh and entertaining.

The limitation that Bockbrader imposed on himself as both writer and director was to set all of the film's action inside a plumber's van (hence the capitalization of the title's first three letters, VANish). This becomes more visually interesting than it initially sounds, because the van ends up with four occupants, with shifting loyalties and escalating conflicts, so that the dramatic possibilities expand until the very end of the film. The van travels a long road, allowing Bockbrader to vary both the lighting and the view out the windows (some of it stock footage), and several additional players enter and exit the vehicle along the way. With just a little imagination, Brockbrader has turned a van's interior into a busier place than the single setting of many a great stage play.

After a teaser involving an older couple (Joe Davis and Hope Diaz) who have their tryst interrupted, the van's initial two passengers are Jack (Austin Abke), a former soldier in Afghanistan whose father owns the vehicle, and Max (Bockbrader), a cocksure loudmouth, whom Jack tolerates because they have known each other since they were kids. In VANish's most obvious nod to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, the two of them chatter about smart phones, Jack's ex-girlfriend, Jasmine (Denise Dorado), and other "guy" stuff with a kind of random intensity that turns out not to be random at all. Then they reach their destination and, like Jules and Vincent, "get into character" (although their characters aren't nearly as impressive or intimidating as the professionals memorably played by Samuel L. Jackson and John Travota).

Not long afterward, the van has two more passengers: Shane (Adam Guthrie), who served with Jack in Iraq and is either a bit slow or suffering from some form of PTSD (possibly both), and Emma (Maiara Walsh), who is the "odd man out" on this ride, and not just because she is a woman. She is also the only passenger who isn't there voluntarily. A college student, Emma has been kidnapped for a $5 million ransom to be paid by her wealthy father, Carlos (Danny Trejo), even though she assures the three young men that Carlos won't pay, because she and her father have been estranged for years. Jack, clearly the mastermind, thinks otherwise. When Carlos calls the number from which Jack sent him Emma's ransom video, Jack instructs the furious dad to meet them the next day at a remote spot outside the town of Barstow.

But getting there is, as one character, accurately dubs it, a highway to hell, punctuated by arguments, threats, fights, conspiracies, secrets revealed and no small amount of bloodletting. Max is the obvious troublemaker, because he can neither sit still nor keep quiet. If he senses that someone has a sore spot, Max jabs at it. If things are too quiet, Max throws a beer can at someone's head. If Emma seems too relaxed, Max points a gun at her head. Where Jack remains focused on the ransom, Max seems to care more about the thrill of being an outlaw, to his partners' growing frustration. But as heat, exhaustion and uncertainty wear down all four, Max turns out to be only the most obvious lunatic in the group—and possibly the least extreme of them all.

Much of VANish plays like a black comedy that recalls Rodriguez's original From Dusk Till Dawn, especially the first half during the Gecko brothers' twisted road trip. One of the film's best sequences involves a California highway patrolman, Officer Darrow, played by horror legend Tony Todd, who stops the group for a busted tail light, then takes his sweet time running the license plate, jabbering with the occupants and generally entertaining himself on what is otherwise probably a boring day. (According to Brockbrader's commentary, Todd improvised extensively.) Meanwhile, the four occupants sit tensely, desperately trying to act normal, hands poised on concealed weapons, scanning Darrow's face for any sign of suspicion. It's an accomplished set piece of which any writer/director could be proud, let alone a first-timer.

Brockbrader demonstrates an even more mischievous streak when he has the group check into a motel for the night, leaving their vehicle empty. No sooner are they gone than two masked thieves break in, but they postpone a thorough rifling through the van's contents while one of them holds forth extensively, in subtitled Spanish, on how the white people who own this vehicle deserve their fate because of how Mexicans are treated in America. Maybe if they had talked less, they could have completed their task before being interrupted by another unexpected intruder.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, all the world's a van, and all the people merely passengers. They have their entrances and exits, and some are messier than others.

The list of Tarantino and Rodriguez imitators is long and largely undistinguished. Brockbrader stands out from the pack because he didn't imitate what these two famous partners-in-crime actually did. Instead, he studied how they did it, then applied those lessons to an original story idea that could have easily worn out its welcome after the first act, if its writer/director hadn't kept pushing it in new and surprising directions. VANish isn't deep or profound, but it's lively and sometimes even surprising. That's enough to recommend it, especially in this solid Blu-ray presentation.

[CSW] -3.3- Loved this Tarantino type flick. Bloody and messy just the way I like it. If you like a quick shoot 'em up bang bang with plot twists, this movie is for you. I especially liked the way the plot twists weren't telegraphed ahead as they are in most movies and so most of them I didn't see coming at all. This is one that I might consider watching again and knowing the twists in advance might make it even more interesting.
[V4.0-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.


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