When you look at the filmography of actor Guy Pearce, you see classics like “L.A. Confidential” and “Memento” beside box office and critical duds like “Factory Girl” and “Seeking Justice.” Active since before 1990, Pearce has worked with great directors, impressive co-actors, and played a plethora of roles. Continually, he veers back in the direction of films surrounding law enforcement and the spheres that circle this section of the world.
Pearce’s new film, “Disturbing the Peace,” finds the actor working in familiar territory. Playing small-town marshal Jim Dillon, Pearce’s only clear direction from York Alec Shackleton (“211”) is to ooze an aura of cool. The film follows Dillon as he deals with a new threat of a biker gang in his city, fighting them with a myriad of odd tactics since he will not pick up a gun. Dillon killed a fellow Texas Ranger ten years prior, you see, a Ranger who happened to be his partner. Wearing aviator glasses and talking in tough-guy phrases like, “I don’t like people keeping tabs on me,” Pearce’s Dillon teams up with his new partner and rookie Matt Reynolds (Michael Sirow) to take down the biker gang.
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We meet quite a few other townspeople over the course of the film. This includes the quirky and Dillon-hating mayoral candidate Roger Cochran (Luke Martin Collins), the local cafe bartender/owner and Dillon’s love interest Catie Reynolds (Kelly Greyson), and gang members with names like Diablo, Big Dog, Diesel, Pyro, and Jarhead. These names tell you everything you need to know about who’s on the right side of the law.
The supporting cast puts together one big, awful performance, filled with overdramatic facial expressions, intense line readings, and an effort you can only call admirable. In their defense, Chuck Hustmyre’s script does this cast absolutely zero favors. Credit must go to Devon Sawa, who plays the leader of the bikers and gives the only solid performance in the whole film. His commitment, along with flashes of hilarity by Pearce, keeps you from leaving the theater or turning off the screen.
The movie trades nuance for cheap action sequences and lots of violence, with the bikers inflicting pain upon a number of innocent townspeople. They pull all the regular stunts you’d expect: cutting the phone lines, taking cops hostage, killing cops, robbing a bank, deciding they aren’t going back to prison, staying in town to kill Dillon when they can escape, and bringing up each others’ times in Iraq (to the surprise of no one, they’re all veterans).
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If there were annual awards for unintentional comedy, “Disturbing the Peace” would receive the top prize. You can’t help but laugh at the machismo Pearce displays in every scene. Once he picks up a gun towards the end of the film, he immediately shoots one of the gangsters in the head from long range. Looks like the man hasn’t lost his aim!
Ultimately, “Disturbing the Peace” has little offer other than a cool-looking guy on a horse, and that becomes the film’s biggest problem. You never feel a connection to these characters; by the time the movie ends, you question why this film was made in the first place. Pearce’s star power feels a bit behind him, and this role sadly feels like nothing more than a paycheck. With a lackluster script, shaky supporting characters, and weightless dialogue, “Disturbing the Peace” is the rare film that feels void of purpose or direction. [D]