The Authority

The Authority
Directed by Michael Debevac

At the very end of The Authority, there's a blank scene with 10 frames in it. You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this, as there are probably a hundred movies that have a blank scene for the music to fade out on or whatever. But the reason I mention it now is that as soon as the movie ended, I started clicking around looking for an invisible word box that might explain what the hell I had just watched. This feeling lasted through pretty much the entirety of the movie, hoping that a plot synopsis typed up and placed at the end might give me some clue as to what was happening, because the movie, while surprisingly well-directed and very cool-looking, sure as hell doesn't.

As reluctant as I feel to admit it, The Authority doesn't seem to be about anything. Two of my favorite 3DMM movies, JDR Revival and REDUX (both of which I was pretty heavily involved in, though with Revival I was mainly offering advice and ideas to Dan) have had this complaint lodged against 'em and I feel it's pretty unfair in both cases. But here, as the film finished up, I can't think of much to say other than it's a cool and well-directed nothing. There's a basic plot arc, or at least I think there is, about a vigilante group that does heist jobs and break-ins at major facilities, and the film portrays them in a justified light. From shot to shot, you get a sense of camraderie between them, and of a professional respect the police chief in the first scenario has for them. But it's so vague and depends so much on you drawing loose, uncertain conclusions that it borders on frustrating. "Hard to follow" doesn't even begin to describe how the film plays out, and the case can easily be made that there's nothing to follow at all.

I must confess I enjoyed watching it, however. It's very, very slick and something seems to propel it forward for the most part. Michael has a very good sense of how to frame shots, how to pace the movie from sequence to sequence, how to keep our interest and give an idea of what's happening even if there's nothing holding it all together. The camera passes through walls to show a target the team is trying to get to, digital readouts and computer screens foreshadow what's happening in the various bases in the movie (I love the lights going off in the hallway), and characters, vehicles, and rooms are shot in some really great-looking angles from time to time. Mise en scene is used to great effect here -- it's really the only way we can identify with the characters, so it's good thing there's a lot of it.

But back to the ultimately crippling question of Just What The Hell Is Going On. The first line of dialogue appears about halfway through the film and gives a basic bit of plot information about a group called The Peacekeepers, apparently the same group that our vigilante team is fighting against, who are assembling the devices necessary to blow up the Earth. Motive enough for a second, much longer heist sequence that takes up the remainder of the film? No, but The Authority does it anyway. The weirdest part is easily the beginning of this second mission, as it seems to compile a bunch of completely unrelated plot elements and scattered shots into something even more confusing. What's the deal with the Japanese guy? Why do we see animations of slot machines and hear casino background sounds in a government facility? And what's with the plot arc of the Valentine character's visions and revelations, and what is the ending supposed to represent?

If this film proves anything, it's that Michael definitely has the potential to make something cinematically amazing. I'm not sure what he was going for with this -- it's almost like a 10-minute trailer for a much longer film than anything else, and drew me in but left me feeling more unfulfilled than interested. He either needs a writer or he needs to spend more time fleshing out stories rather than vague assembled heist sequences, but he should definitely keep at it, cause there's a lot of untapped potential here.

Critical Score: 63/100.
Personal Score: 70/100.

This review was written back in 2004 when this movie was an EP exclusive.