Johnny Depp stars as a lowly city slicker who gets a job as
an accountant in the wild west town of Machine.
When he arrives in town, he is dismayed to learn the position has
already been taken. Penniless with no
way to return home, he spends the night with a woman (Mili Avital) he meets outside
of a bar. When her husband (Gabriel Byrne)
catches them in bed together, Depp kills him and runs off. Byrne’s grieving father (Robert Mitchum) then
sends out three desperados to track him down and kill him.
Dead Man is Jim Jarmusch’s version of an old-fashioned western
filtered through his unmistakable quirky style.
Because of the fractured nature of the film, the tension between Depp
and the bounty hunters never picks up any momentum. The constant fade-outs and fade-ins gets to
wear on the nerves after a while too. It’s
not altogether uninteresting, but it’s not exactly successful either.
Since so much of the film is episodic, it’s only natural
that the vignettes are mighty uneven. The
surreal opening sequence featuring Crispin Glover aboard a train where everyone
opens fire on a herd of buffalo is memorable.
Too bad none of the ensuing scenes never live up to that moment.
Still, it’s worth watching just to see the all-star cast. You’ll never know who will turn up or who
they’ll be paired with. (This is
probably your only chance to see Billy Bob Thornton share a campfire with Jared
Harris and Iggy Pop.) Unfortunately, the
soundtrack, which is nothing more than a few of Neil Young’s droning guitar
licks, along with the rambling and at times, dullness of the film, might have
you nodding off.
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