Eric Bogosian

  • Talk Radio (1988)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, January 2022) One of writer-director Oliver Stone’s lesser-known 1980s efforts, Talk Radio takes us inside a recording studio while a shock-jock (or at least the 1980s’ version of a shock jock) goes through a few pivotal shows. His Dallas-based show is about to open nationally in syndication, but that’s happening as he deals with a number of crises, the understanding that he’s a prisoner of his confrontational attitude, and he’s inextricably linked to an audience that he despises. Eric Bogosian is magnificent in the lead role, as he adapts his own script and performance in the original play. While Talk Radio’s theatrical origins are best seen in how it stays in the recording studio where much of the action takes place, the film does expand the reach of the action slightly to cover the days in-between those shows, and expand on the various relationships that illustrate the character study. The self-loathing protagonist is not a simple character, as his rapid-fire delivery flits from one unorthodox view to another, haranguing his callers and being a difficult person to live with. It’s quite a performance, and much of the entertainment of the film consists in sitting back and letting Bogosian do his love-it-or-hate-it thing. As the callers multiply, however, the script also switches genres—comedy, tragedy, and drama all combine here. Stone keeps things moving forward and find ways of making even a radio studio feel exciting. I’m not so fond of the rather obvious ending, but it does bring some kind of closure to the film, and it’s perhaps the audio epilogue that gives meaning to the climax more than the climax’s events themselves. While Talk Radio has an air of timelessness, it seems fated to become a period piece: today’s shock-jocks are less likely to be whip-smart provocateurs than partisan rabble-rousers promoting dangerous conspiracy theories and madcap pseudo-scientific nonsense, and that breed of professional nutjobs wouldn’t make as interesting a character to follow.

  • Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)

    Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Second Viewing, In French, On TV, March 2019) One wouldn’t expect Under Siege 2: Dark Territory to have a special place in movie history, but it does! Back in 2005, SFX trade magazine Cinefex printed a long roundtable article discussing the state of the industry, and one SFX luminary mentioned the film as the first one in which “invisible” digital special effects were used to simulate a film being shot aboard a train, launching a now-commonplace technique. Re-watching Under Siege 2 today, most of those “invisible” effects hold up—it takes a conscious effort to realize that they’re shooting on a studio set. More spectacular effects are noticeable later in the film, but by that point we’re already onboard. Alas, while Under Siege 2 remains enjoyable on a purely 1990s action movie way, it could have been much better. The main problem, as usual for a Steven Seagal movie, is Steven Seagal himself. His limitations as an actor (emotionless, devoid of personality) aren’t as big a problem as his pride preventing his character to ever be made vulnerable: The Seagal style is to never acknowledge that the protagonist can be put in jeopardy, and that ends up taking away a lot of audience sympathy. The result is an action movie that’s literally on rails, whether we’re talking plot or narrative approach. It’s very much an exemplar of the mid-1990s Die Hard imitators, although better than many. The rhythm and premise of the film is very much of its era, with director Geoff Murphy playing with military technology, regularly scheduled action sequences, and a rather good over-the-top villain played by Eric Bogosian. You can spot Katherine Heigl in an early role as a sullen baby-faced teenager. The action climax of the film is actually pretty good, but it would be much better if it wasn’t for Seagal jogging through it without a care in the world, confident that nothing will dirty his suit or muss his hair. But as I said—no one expected this film to be anything more than a footnote in movie history.