Demolition is the latest film by Jean-Marc Vallée, director of acclaimed films Dallas Buyers Club and Wild. All it took to excite me for this film was Jake Gyllenhaal who, in my opinion, is one of the best actors working today. But while Demolition may have strong performances and an interesting premise, its uneven pacing and unsatisfying ending make it a mediocre effort.
Gyllenhaal plays Davis Mitchell, a man stuck in a routine life whose wife is killed in a car accident. While still in the hospital, a faulty vending machine withholds his much-needed snack. Feeling somewhat indifferent about the loss of his wife, he writes to the vending company to complain, and his letters become a source of venting about his life and trauma.
What I really liked about Demolition is its coldly realistic portrayal of a person who’s always drifted through life without any real ambition or direction. Davis has a successful career, a nice house, and seems happily married. Yet it takes his wife’s death to make him realise that he’s not sure why he has any of it.
After the tragic event his eyes are finally open, and he starts to pay attention to his surroundings in a way his routine life prevented him from doing. I think a lot of viewers will empathise with this kind of lackadaisical existence; always doing that which is easiest. The directing works really well here – Demolition utilises the hand-held camera technique to create a sense of intimacy with our character and some wonderful, carefully chosen shots make for some nice visual storytelling.
It’s a shame that this engagement is lost towards the middle of the film, when, like Davis once was, the film becomes completely without direction. The central character arc doesn’t carry enough substance to keep us interested. The interesting subplots come in the form of his relationship with his late wife’s father, and the woman he writes to at the vending company. There are some moving revelations in these stories but they come far too late, and long after the film has already bogged itself down with another subplot that we assumed existed purely for comic relief.
The trouble is that we need plot tension to save us from switching off. At no point after the midpoint do we feel like we really need to see how the film ends. The only stakes in any of it are that Davis might feel hollow for a little while longer. We don’t feel like we’re watching a journey that’ll ever arrive anywhere. And when the film finally does wrap up it does so in a way that’s frankly bizarre. I honestly wasn’t sure if we were supposed to laugh, cry, or if we’d wandered into a dream sequence.
And speaking of laughter, Demolition does have a few funny moments but if you’re looking for a comedy, skip this one. The wit that makes for the brief moments of humour is sparse, and the rest of the laughs come in the form of clichés and Jake Gyllenhaal dancing around on city streets.
Finally I must talk about Jake Gyllenhaal and supporting actress Naomi Watts. They are far and away the best part of this film and, not to get too political, I have to give the film props for casting a significantly older woman as a potential love interest. Watts brings a lot of playful mystery to her character, while Gyllenhaal delivers an unusually heartfelt portrayal of a man who feels nothing. However, this isn’t Prisoners or Nightcrawler, so don’t go in expecting something of that calibre.
In the end there’s little I can say to recommend this one. Its premise is interesting and the first act is a tortuously real look at this modern conformist. Once you get over that, there’s little to keep you engaged, with an absence of good humour, a relentless focus on the subplot with the least amount of tension, and an ending that will leave you totally confounded.
(GRADES: Both are out of 10. The left is an objective score based on its artistic merit, the right is how much I personally enjoyed it.)
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