Falling Down (1993)

This movie came to my attention through a conversation with my parents, as we were driving down to Portsea for lunch on a public holiday. The movie was brought up as we were talking about how McDonalds serves breakfast until 11, and if you are five minutes late they have no sympathy. Falling Down has a scene that touches on that particular subject. I decided to grab it from work and give it a crack, what I witnessed was sheer brilliance, it reminded just how much our society has disintegrated.

"Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture?"

Falling Down is the story of unemployed defense lawyer, William (Michael Douglas). William has grown sick and frustrated with all the injustices in our society, all William wants is to get home to see his daughter for her birthday, unfortunately for William, his day keeps going from bad to worse. He gets stuck in a traffic jam, he is disgusted with the prices set by a Korean shop owner and encounters a Nazi sympathizer.

One scene stands out to me more than the rest, it is something that I have always wanted to do but never had the guts. William walks into Whammy Burger, he politely asks to be served breakfast, however, the manager tells him they stop serving at 11.30am, William's watch reads "11.35". He explains that he is having a bad day and just wants some breakfast, again, they tell him no, it is only after he pulls out a gun that they agree to serve him breakfast. William receives his food, he proceeds to look at the picture then his meal, in no way shape or form does what he received resemble what is in the picture, he asks the staff what the difference between his meal and the picture is. I imagine that everyone has had an experience such as that.

Michael Douglas as always, gives an incredible performance, every scene he was in captivated and genuinely terrified me, never before has the quote "the most dangerous man is a man with nothing to lose" rang so true. Robert Duvall also put in a solid performance as Detective Prendergrast, he portrays a cop on his last day in the force trying to track down William as he goes on a city wide rampage.

The messages that are put forward in Falling Down are ones to take note of, society is nearing a fork in the road, we can either continue they way we are going and ruin our future or we can try to change things in order to create a safe and respectable world to live in.

This movie is almost 20 years old yet it will stand the test of time as one of the greatest pieces of film in history. You must see this, it will change your whole perspective on life.

Incredible!

10/10