breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com
Along with multiple other stories in film, normal and happy couples just can't seem to cut a break with running into some of the most mentally unbalanced individuals. I pity these people; I really do. Look at The Mean Season (1985), Unlawful Entry (1992) or even The Cable Guy (1996). Each share something in common and that's the unstable intruder who doesn't care what he does or how he does it because their upbringing as a child or young adult was very screwed up.Pacific Heights (1990) is the story about a young couple who moved into this specific area and buy a large house to use as an apartment for other tenants. All goes well like they planned until they come in contact with a very slippery and shifty individual who ends up making their lives spiral downward. Odd as it is, I was able to predict what would happen in this kind of situation. I don't know if that's because the writer Daniel Pyne, could not write a more original plot. I say that because like the other films mentioned above, the antagonist relies on and abuses the rights he is given by law to evade the law. This makes the story very formulaic, but I do give credit for the third act because it went in a direction I did not expect.Playing the young spirited couple are Melanie Griffith as Patty Palmer and Matthew Modine as Drake Goodman. Together they permit the sly dog Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton) into their home as a tenant. To be honest, I found Griffith and Modine to be good at playing an unknown couple but I also don't feel like they made their characters stand out enough either. That's because of how formulaic the screenplay was written. As for Keaton, no doubt does he make it look like he has the mental state of a sociopath. He was creepy but I think he could have been creepier. Every now and then he did burst out in anger and that's really what I wanted to see but instead for the most part, the audience will get a controlled anger. However, I also give credit to Keaton for making it look like being a criminal is as easy as one two three. It's unnerving. As for the musical score provided by renowned composer Hans Zimmer, was rather disappointing. It did have a few tunes that got the blood pumping and the muscles tense but there was no theme and there wasn't enough music the emmerse myself into the situations that occurred.However, the reason why I still give this movie the credit it deserves because of how real these situations can be. And the closer it gets to being in your house, the scarier it gets. Having a killer running around is one thing, having a cop breaking an entering because they lust for the a married couple's partner is another, but having a tenant that stalks you during the day and plans by night, can be really upsetting. I sure wouldn't want to be that couple. Whether its Jim Carrey, Richard Jordan, Ray Liotta, Michael Keaton or any other actor that plays mentally disturbed antagonists, these guys are just downright uncomfortable (in a good way). Even if the writing is formulaic, the fact that someone can be this unsettling will still creep people out. The music may not be very compelling either but Michael Keaton and his supporting cast do what is possible to keep the audiences' attention.
PeterMitchell-506-564364
This is one of those 90's psychological thrillers I could watch and never get sick of. I've probably watched it twenty times through, and loved it as much as the last watch. Keaton is one main reason, in a trademark performance, probably his best, Nightshift and Clean And Sober, contenders. This is a smart sleek thriller, thanks to a different and well formulated story that will appease the hunger of thriller fans. A young couple, (Modine and Griffith-equally yery good) so much in love, become landlords, renting out this two story Victorian house, to some suitable trusting tenants, to keep money in flow. Only one, they rent it to, is Keaton, a manipulative con man/psychopath, with a secret life and history of scre..ng women over, the starting scene, sees him getting his just desserts, by two heavies, wielding baseball bats, that work him over. Tracking this house down, he obtains an apartment by lying and conning his way into in, masquerading as an applicable client, flashing notes like they were silver, smooth talking them, in that ever likable Keaton voice, we love. He has much more in store for this couple, as a sick twisted game of Keaton's begins, with some help too. His underlying intention is to literally drive them + the remaining tenants, out of this house, which as Modine drunkenly states, ending a sentence at the viewer's humorous expense, "... this SOB just think's it's business as usual". Modine, his character having violent tendencies, when under pressure, that brings on some bad cursing (he's great here, frighteningly angry in his flare ups) plays right into Keaton's hands. One scene, has Keaton call the cops, then walk up to Modine's door, with flowers in apology, for all the stress and heartbreak he caused, that led to Griffith had a miscarriage. Sure enough, he's met by a punch from Modine, that sends him tumbling down the stairs, and crashing through the front door out onto the house path where Modine just goes radge on him, and is, as Keaton beautifully planned it, arrested. Not knowing how Keaton's gonna go about his intentions, on the first view of this film, is what makes it a stylishly good thriller. This poor couple who's life is turned into a sheer nightmare of landlord hell, where they reach utter depths of despair, really gets you angry, you wanna put the knife into Keaton, as does the other tenants like Mako, a soft sided character here, who practices tai chi on his balcony, it's reminds of his kung fu movie playing days. He also doesn't like arse...es (Keaton and co) hammering at all hours of the morning, where he and his misses are forced to leave after his cupboards become inundated with cockroaches, who are the stars of another unnerving moment. One fine Keaton moment has him just sitting in his Porsche in the garage, just watching Griffith, his eyes remaining fixed on her, even after she's noticed. She went down to change the lights but Keaton saved her the trouble, by flashing a torch through his windshield. He's not just a conman of frightening i.q. He's a real psycho too. His demise too was grand, in how he bought it, a happy ending for our two, ensuing. PH was one of the hip thrillers of 91, solid, hard to fault. It's a thriller, that knows where it's going, it's building climax, quite intense, where we learn just how pi...d off this psycho gets, when he's really angry. A definite watcher.
