If I had to pick one movie that didn't
belong on this list, it would be this one. I don't hate Pacific
Heights for existing, but I hate it for being on this list. It's
a completely generic thriller, no different from a dozen other
completely generic thrillers that come out every year. Why this
particular thriller stuck in the public consciousness, I have no
idea, except perhaps that Batman is the villain. And given that I
don't even like Michael Keaton as Batman, you can guess that this
scores few points with me.
I've heard conflicting views on how
realistic the legal aspects of this movie are. Supposedly, in
California, tenants are almost impossible to evict. However, when
you're releasing cockroaches into the other building, creating noises
that keep the other tenants up at all hours of the night and refusing
to even make your initial payment, while also refusing to let the
landlords so much as inspect the property, I'd like to think there's
something the police could do.
The plot of the movie is that Michael
Keaton's character, Carter Hayes, comes from a rich family that
disowned him. He rents apartments, wrecks the place, and then buys
the property cheap when the bank forecloses. He seems to be
uninterested in actual profits from this. As far as I can tell, he
just wants to ruin peoples’ lives. He has an accomplice named Greg
(James Spader) who seems to exist mainly to be an asshole, and to
allow Hayes to avoid direct confrontations with the Landlords.
I literally don't think a single person
involved in this movie saw it as anything more than cashing a
paycheck. The entire film feels generic as Hell. And the
performances are at best adequate, and at worst completely
indifferent (Spader embodying the worst). A large portion of Hayes'
actions seem to be based around creating as many creepy visual images
as possible for the audience, even when they put his plan in danger.
For example, he steals someone’s cat, and comes to the house at a
point when he is dependent on their belief that he's out of town and
can't be contacted.
At the same time of course, the
Landlords, Drake Goodman and Patty Palmer (Matthew Modine and Melanie
Griffith), don't help the situation. Or rather, Goodman doesn't ,
while Palmer contributes virtually nothing but whining until the
final act of the film. Goodman, realizing himself to be “morally
right,” cuts off Hayes' power and heat to force Hayes' out, thus
putting the law on Hayes' side. This initial mistake was
understandable, but after he already should have seen Hayes' game, he
attempts to destroy his car, and then publicly assaults him. He even
violates a restraining order, allowing Hayes to legally shoot him
without repercussion. This man is an idiot.
The idea that this movie is even
frightening makes me roll my eyes. It takes a full hour for a single
human life to be in the slightest amount of danger. In the final
act, Hayes having fled, Griffith does seek him out, putting herself
in real perile in the process. By posing as his wife, she enters his
hotel room and finds out that Hayes has stolen her husband's
identity. She has Goodman freeze all of his assets and then calls
for an expensive dinner party at the hotel room, leaving Hayes unable
to pay for it. She also calls the police to report that his car is
stolen, and steals a great deal of evidence against him, thus making
his confrontation with them all the more personal. Why she didn't
simply call the police, resulting in every single thing that she did
to him happening anyway I have no idea.
In the last 12 minutes of the film
Hayes seeks them out for revenge. I have not a clue what happened to
Greg, who had a conflict with Hayes halfway through the movie and
then seemed to just disappear into thin air. But Hayes falls on some
pipes and is impaled, so everyone lives happily ever after.
As I said before, I don't hate this
movie. I can't imagine I would ever discourage anyone from watching
it. But likewise, I can never imagine myself recommending it. Even
if someone came to me and said “I want to watch a really generic
thriller, with some A-list actors clearly just making a quick buck,”
I imagine I'd respond with Fracture.
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