Review – Demolition

Sometimes you see a movie that just hits you.  Whether it’s because you can relate to the story, relate to a character, or just connect with a performance, there are certain movies that just resonate with you.  For some reason, Demolition was one of those movies for me.  I was watching this movie and as the it was going I kept thinking, “I totally get that.”

I don’t know why either.  I can’t relate to the plot, which revolves around an investment banker named Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) who’s wife dies in a car accident which causes him to go through a moral and existential life crises and befriend a single mother (Naomi Watts) and her fifteen year old troublemaker son (Judah Miller).  I’m not an investment banker.  I’ve never had a wife, let alone one that died in a crash.  I’ve never befriended a single mother via complaint letters to her job.  And I’ve never formed a bond with a single mother’s fifteen year old son.  I’ve never experienced anything that happens in this movie, and yet, I felt and understood everything this movie was trying to say.

Maybe it was director Jean-Marc Vallée treatment of making flawed characters sympathetic.  He did it in with Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (2013) and he did it with Reese Witherspoon in Wild (2014).  He does it again here in Demolition and with that, has made his best film yet.  Vallée and screenwriter Bryan Sipe teamed up to make a movie that deals with loss and rebirth.  This is a movie that tells us to take a step back and notice the little things.  Don’t get into a cycle of redundancy and actually live.  Maybe this movie is telling me I need a change and I need to take a step back and notice the world around me.  If I was to guess, that’s probably the most logical answer.

Or maybe it was the magnificent performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.  Gyllenhaal, who has been on a tear as of late with career defining performances in Prisoners (2013), Nightcrawler (2014), and Southpaw (2015), carries this movie and adds yet another great performance to his filmography.  It reminded me of a modernized version of Kevin Spacey’s Oscar winning roll in American Beauty (1999).  He’s a man who has a new outlook on life after something terrible happens to him.  He sees things in a new way and has the urge to do things he never would have done before.  He speaks his mind with no filter and does whatever he wants, including deconstruct a bathroom stall and demolish his house.  There are a few scenes where Davis gets hurt somehow and he starts laughing.  Most people in the theater saw this as a comedic moment, but I saw this as a moment of relief for Davis.  He hasn’t cried once for his dead wife, he doesn’t care about work, he’s basically emotionless.  This pain he feels shows him that he isn’t emotionless and that he can feel something and that taking apart his life still has a point.  This performance is a perfect mix of dark comedy, hidden sadness, and complete wonder.

There is a quote from one of the greatest movies of all-time, Fight Club (1999), that really ties this movie together and one I kept thinking about while watching Demolition; “It’s only once we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything.”  That is what this movie is about.  It’s about loss and reinventing yourself to be a better person.  Is Demolition perfect?  Absolutely not.  Gyllenhaal and Watts’ relationship is a little weird and the movie ends kind of abruptly.  But Gyllenhaal’s arresting performance and Vallée’s keen direction, along with the message, made this movie hit me in all the right emotions.  This is a movie I am going to think about for months trying to figure out why it made me feel the way it did.  Any movie that moved me this much is always going to be special.

MY RATING – 3.5/4

Did you see Demolition?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.

And don’t forget to check out my Top 5 Jake Gyllenhaal Performances by clicking right here.