Yup, there's more than one Paris in the world. Who knew? The other one is a small, creepy(if that aspect is criminally underused) Australian village that makes a living off making cars that drive past, crash, scavenging the parts, and lobotomizing everyone who lives through the "accident". Well, except for Arthur Waldo(yup, we found him), because, well, otherwise, there'd be no movie. Eh, or would there? After a while, this ceases to be about him(no wonder, he's almost pure reaction, no action, he doesn't cause things, he just goes with whatever happens). It ends up focusing on this youth gang that resides there, and who are getting increasingly dangerous(and yes, you do get to see that spiked vehicle on the cover, and it is indeed badass). My best guess as to the reason would be that a society built around destruction and death would inevitably lead to that...? I understand that Peter Weir is known for his strange concepts, and this certainly shows that. Did I honestly witness a Western parody halfway through this? Down Under? I did like the mayor, obsessed with maintaining his small part of the Earth, keeping people from leaving town. Other than that, however, I lost count of just how many times I asked "what on Earth did I just watch, and why did what happened, occur?". I'd suggest a drinking game, but it'd lead to alcohol poisoning. For only being 84 minutes(including the credits), this feels long. It seems to run out of steam and ideas, and the pace meanders. While it could be a cultural thing, I found this to be excessively vague and downright hard to follow. I could simply be spoiled by recent cinema and TV overexplaining. Is this a thriller, horror, comedy, all, none? There is a little gruesome, bloody, gory, violent and disturbing content in this. The DVD comes with a 3 and a half(!) minute trailer. I recommend this to fans of the director. 6/10
Review of The Cars That Ate Paris
