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Mojave Film Analysis

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With the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the future prospects for Oscar Isaac are looking even more plentiful than already did. Prior to Star Wars, he enthralled audiences with brilliant performances in such films as Inside Llewyn Davis, A Most Violent Year, and Ex Machina – not to mention a Golden Globe winning performance in the HBO miniseries, Show Me a Hero. And, before he hits the big screen this summer in X-Men: Apocalypse, he stars alongside Garrett Hedlund in the new thriller, Mojave. In Mojave, written and directed by William Monahan (London Boulevard), Garrett Hedlund stars as Thomas, a burnt out actor that decides to go out into the desert to “find himself “– only to meet an intellectual drifter, named Jack (Oscar Isaac), …show more content…

No disrespect to film’s true lead, Garrett Hedlund, but Isaac is the only aspect of this production that isn’t as dry as the desert. Isaac simply oozes charisma, portraying a Shakespeare-admiring drifter. Make no mistake about it, though – Isaac’s character, Jack, is as ruthless as they come, quite frankly because he has nothing to lose. Hedlund, who most recently starred in the under-whelming Peter Pan prequel, simply titled Pan, portrays a brooding, disassociated character that is in search of a reason to live. The man, Thomas, wakes up next to a gorgeous woman (that’s not his wife, mind you) – looking like the fourth runner-up in a Kurt Cobain look-a-like contest. The guy probably has enough wealth to live comfortably for the rest of his life, yet he has to drive out to the desert in search of the meaning of life – which turns out to be nothing more than a reason to drink heavily and scream at …show more content…

The intrigue was right there, courtesy of a commendable and compelling performance by Oscar Isaac. In contrast, Garrett Hedlund’s character is not on equal footing, and is far too dry to compete with an eccentric drifter with nothing to lose. In all honestly, William Monohan’s script and directing capabilities aren’t completely without merit – although Mojave is nowhere near as captivating as his career gem, The Departed. Still, this protagonist versus antagonist narrative could have used a fine tooling – unless this mirror image plot was meant to confuse viewers about who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy (a question that’s even present by Isaac’s character in the film at one point). In the end, Mojave does earn a recommendation, if for no other reason that it puts the true talent of Oscar Isaac on display. Sure, it’s a major about-face from the excitable Poe Dameron – but Isaac is a force to be reckoned with just the

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