Gordon (2003)

2003 - King of the Ants - A bit of a change of pace for Gordon, without a killer doll, giant robot or even a magic suit in sight. As a film that meditates on violence, it is overshadowed in my mind by my recent viewing of the vastly superior A History of Violence. In both, violence is a sort of disease that infects a person and never goes away. In Sean, it's difficult at first until the infection is literally beat into his head. I can’t decide if it’s a flaw or an asset, but both the protagonist and the antagonists are complete idiots. Sean is a bumbling wannabe spy without an ounce of common sense; his enemies are rinky-dink construction mobsters whose idea of a good plan is to try to beat someone into retardation. On the one hand, this makes for a unique movie populated with interesting characters. On the other, there isn't really anyone to identify with.

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