Bomb The System
Picture: C+
Sound: B Extras: C Film: C+
The quest to try to capture the graffiti culture on film
continues with Adam Bhala Lough’s Bomb The System (2002), telling the
story of a tagger named “Blest” (Mark Webber) who happens to be the most wanted
graffiti artist in New York City. He
can’t quit his “bombing” and fired up further by his friends, partying and
other illegal arrangements that further the idea he can get away with it. The film ideally has a good story to tell,
but it get too caught up in its comedy, out of place moments and multi-channel
sound to “keep it real” enough to be the breakthrough film on the subject it
could have been.
While the acting by the unknown cast is not bad
considering the script, Lough gets too distracted form covering the deeper
reasons for the obsession and the long 93 minutes never feels like it covered
al it could or should have. If the film
was not about “bombing” specifically, then it was not about the characters
enough. The film is too busy trying to
be hip to even delve enough into the darker implications of all this almost to
the point that it is a fantasy film of some kind. The melodrama includes a dead older brother and the two women in
his life (mother & girlfriend) pulling him into different directions. Guess what he can’t let go? Diehard fans will enjoy this, but I would
still stick with the documentary Style Wars (released twice on DVD now
and reviewed on this site) if you want to see how it really is. We’ll see how long the next dramatic film
takes.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is slightly
fuzzy throughout and has a off-color look that is not as bad the clichéd
colorless drained look we are all beyond sick of, simply because graffiti is
supposed to be colorful. It’s a sad day
when graffiti is more colorful than most feature films. The Dolby Digital is here in 2.0 Stereo with
Pro Logic surrounds and a very aggressive 5.1 mix that is louder than usual and
very punchy. Too bad it seems like an
excuse to cover up for the film’s flaws.
Extras include trailers for this and other Palm DVDs, deleted scenes, an
extended scene, interviews, behind the scenes footage and weblinks.
- Nicholas Sheffo
