What started off as an interesting and creepy thriller, The Traveler soon unravels into a trivial horror movie that makes absolutely no sense and features some of the worst acting I’ve seen in the past year. Val Kilmer, God bless his soul, gives it a valiant try but the script is so bad and some of the directing was awful that there is absolutely no reason to even give this turkey a try.
The Traveler (2011)
Genre(s): Horror, Thriller
Paramount | R – 91 min. – $22.98 | January 25, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Michael Oblowitz
Writer(s): Joseph C. Muscat (written by)
Cast: Val Kilmer, Camille Sullivan, Dylan Neal
DISC INFO:
Features: None
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: English
THE MOVIE – 1/5
I guess nothing should come as a surprise anymore in regards to Val Kilmer’s floundering career. Last year (2010) he starred in the clumsy mystery-thriller Double Identity, a terrible and uncredited remake of the classic North by Northwest and has, according to the Internet Movie Database, no less than 8 more movies in various stages. I cannot wait.
In his latest stinker entitled The Traveler, Val Kilmer plays Mr. Nobody, a man who walks into a small town police station on a rainy, stormy night on Christmas Eve. He calmly walks up to the officer at the front desk and confesses to the crime of murder. As the other five officers on duty come to investigate what’s going on, they haul him off to the interrogation room as Mr. Nobody gives a cryptic warning, before the night was over, he would confess to six murders! Cue haunting, “CSI”-like, music.
After getting virtually nothing out of him other than he should be called “Nobody”, he’s transferred to a cell being unsure what to do with him. But things get weird real quick because he’s creeping out the others and later he begins his first confession during which one of the officers is killed just as Mr. Nobody’s confession describes. This is followed by a few more creepy/mysterious moments and more blood and guts. You get the picture.
Well, the back story is when the movie opens we see a child playing in the fields with her pet cat when a straggly-looking drifter snatches her. We then discover early on that this is the young daughter of Detective Alexander Black (DYLAN NEAL) who is on duty this Christmas Eve night.
Something nagged at me while watching The Traveler. No, it wasn’t the odd camera angles and close-ups on Kilmer’s face or the befuddlement on the faces of the officers as well. It’s not that the story becomes increasingly inane with each passing minute (the movie actually starts out well enough) but instead it’s the ineptitude of the officers involved. This potentially dangerous weirdo walks into their small police station in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, confesses to multiple murders and they act like this wasn’t anything new. A couple suspects he’s just a lonely guy looking for company during the holidays so right there you have one that’s a complete moron.
SPOILER TERRITORY (as if it matters):
And then you get to the final act where the murders become more violent yet borderline laughable. The director I guess suddenly channels his inner 1980s gore effects by having one person get killed via a shovel which rips apart someone’s guts, another has a bag pulled over the head in which the individual to hold their breath up the point when the unseen force is able to rip the head clean off and yet another in which one officer is stabbed over and over and the guts in slow-mo go flying all over the walls. It was all just so ridiculous and yet the finale put this piece of crap over the top. Suddenly – and without anything that came previously to foreshadow it – the detective’s little girl shows up, comforts her father and then TELLS HIM HOW TO DEFEAT the supernatural villain, and how to defeat him is even more ridiculous.
END SPOILERS
What started off as an interesting and creepy thriller, The Traveler soon unravels into a trivial horror movie that makes absolutely no sense and features some of the worst acting I’ve seen in the past year (the little girl especially was terrible). Val Kilmer, God bless his soul, gives it a valiant try but the script is so bad and some of the directing was awful that there is absolutely no reason to even give this turkey a try.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5
Only thing on the disc are some previews for other Paramount titles including Paranormal Activity 2.
VIDEO – 3.5/5
The 2.35 anamorphic widescreen transfer isn’t bad though at times the image is a little soft. Black levels are also decent especially given a majority of the film takes place at night.
AUDIO – 3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is effective enough especially when it comes to Ross Vannelli’s score while dialogue is easy enough to understand.
OVERALL – 1/5
Overall, what started off as an interesting and creepy thriller, The Traveler soon unravels into a trivial horror movie that makes absolutely no sense and features some of the worst acting I’ve seen in the past year (the little girl especially was terrible). Val Kilmer, God bless his soul, gives it a valiant try but the script is so bad and some of the directing was awful that there is absolutely no reason to even give this turkey a try.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 01/20/2011