Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

The End of Violence Blu-ray Movie Review

The end of comprehensibility.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 24, 2015

There’s little doubt that Wim Wenders can be straightforward when he wants to be, as evidenced by some of his acclaimed documentaries like Buena Vista Social Club. But whatever clarity Wenders brings to his nonfiction enterprises is often lost in what seems like a deliberately obfuscatory approach in his works of fiction, and there is perhaps no more opaque piece in Wenders’ odd but provocative filmography than his 1997 outing The End of Violence. The very title of the film hints at a near impossible pipe dream, and there’s a similarly hallucinatory aspect to the film, one which darts in and out of several supposedly interlocking storylines without ever providing much narrative grist to effectively link them. Often described as a metaphor or allegory, The End of Violence has a lot—maybe too much—on its cinematic plate, and like many overstuffed “all you can eat” buffets, finds that it can’t quite digest everything in front of it. Filled with some of Wenders’ typically piquant observations about life and, in this particular instance, the vagaries of the movie industry itself, The End of Violence seems oddly prescient at times, especially with regard to one of its plot arcs which details a high tech surveillance system and a questioning developer of that system that seems to presage the NSA, along with the crisis of conscience that evidently sparked Edward Snowden’s massive data dump (Citizenfour). Filled with a bit more black (and/or bleak) humor than many of Wenders’ films, The End of Violence can’t quite escape its own overblown ambience and instead succeeds—when it does succeed—as a collection of intriguing vignettes that never really congeal into a satisfying whole.

The End of Violence manages to be both entertaining and even wickedly humorous when Wenders is able to focus his attention on a “worthy” target like the pretensions of Hollywood. As the film opens, Mike Max (Bill Pullman), a kind of blustery, Harvey Weinstein-esque producer with a penchant for artistically dubious but big box office fare, is out by the pool of his luxe oceanside manner. Max is utilizing the “latest” technology of the day, including super cool things like video chat and cell phones to keep track of his projects. He’s so subsumed by his career that his bored and listless wife Paige (Andie MacDowell) has to phone him to tell him she’s leaving him, even though she’s just a few feet away inside their home. That personal trauma is set aside, at least for a moment, when Max gets information that a stunt woman on a set of his has been injured (in a kind of haunting echo of the relatively recent Sarah Jones tragedy which has made front page news in various trade magazines over the past several months).

That in turn leads to one of the primary detours The End of Violence takes, when Max’s all encompassing fears that someone or something is out to get him comes true, when he’s abducted by two seemingly deranged kidnappers. In yet another brief moment of on the nose hilarity (at least for those who know a certain type of Hollywood big wig), Max attempts to weasel out of his predicament with a typically arcane “back end” strategy that’s both amusing and disturbing. Meanwhile, a scientist named Ray Bering (Gabriel Byrne) is testing out a huge array of surveillance equipment which he monitors from the Griffith Observatory, catching all sorts of “private” interactions, including some involving Max. When Max’s abductors turn up dead, Max is the prime suspect. Only—he’s “disappeared,” taking on the “secret identity” of a Mexican gardener. It’s probably at this point that even the most devoted viewer is going to begin questioning their fealty to Wenders, at least with regard to this project.

Wenders seems less concerned with procedural aspects of the plot, despite the inclusion of a couple of cops, than in drifting through the lives of a bunch of privileged, self-absorbed people, none of whom seem connected to their own lives, let alone someone else’s. That disconnect is hinted at in the whole voyeurism angle that’s part and parcel of the Ray arc, but here, too, Wenders never develops any of this potentially potent material into anything other than an occasionally intriguing chimera.

The old adage goes, “be careful what you wish for.” Wenders has rather perniciously morphed that into “be careful what you fear,” at least with regard to Max’s incipient paranoia, and in a way with regard to Ray's surveillance activities, which are supposedly meant to tamp down crime (i.e., if you know you're being watched, chances are you won't misbehave). Another adage goes, “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” In the case of The End of Violence, it’s obvious Wenders is out to get something, but it’s never quite clear what that is.

The End of Violence Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The End of Violence is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Olive has been releasing some really interesting cult items in surprisingly solid shape recently, and The End of Violence is among them. The Los Angeles (and environs) locations offer Wenders and cinematographer Pascal Rabaud the chance to exploit everything from outrageously sunny beachsides to more shaded, almost noir feeling, interiors, and this high definition presentation supports changes in lighting with consistent contrast and an appealingly organic look. There are some minor issues with the elements, once again in the form of tiny nicks and the like, but nothing is very distracting. Colors are generally accurate looking, though flesh tones tilt a bit toward the ruddy pink side of things at times. The grain field is very natural and resolves without any problems throughout the presentation. There are likewise no problems with image instability and as is Olive's stock in trade, no signs of artificial digital manipulation of the image harvest.

The End of Violence Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The End of Violence sports a surprisingly robust DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix, one which provides excellent support for both the film's dialogue as well as a propulsive score by a consortium of talents including Ry Cooder. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is unexpectedly wide for this sort of drama. There are no issues with damage like dropouts in this problem free track.

The End of Violence Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:26). (This is 1080p in name only, having apparently been sourced from a pretty raggedy looking interlaced video trailer.)

The End of Violence Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are parts of An End of Violence that I liked—a lot. The opening scenes with Max by his pool wheeling and dealing and needing to "take a call" from his wife who is mere feet away from him are darkly hilarious and completely on the nose (at least for anyone who's hung out with a certain type in Hollywood). And some of the plot points about the moral implications of having Big Brother peeking anywhere and everywhere are tantalizing and probably even more a propos now than they were when the movie first came out. But the film goes off in so many weird directions that it ultimately becomes hard to divine exactly what Wenders is trying to achieve. Viewed as something of a portmanteau, there are certain pleasures to be had in this film, but as a unified whole, it's an unfocused mess a lot of the time. Technical merits are very strong for those considering a purchase.