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Falling DownMichael Douglas plays the man referred to through the film as 'D-FENS' (after his license plate number), a blue-collar worker once involved with the nuclear defence industry but now unemployed and deprived of certainty. Estranged from his wife Beth (Hershey) and already in danger of losing his grip, he's simply desperate to get "home", to his daughter's birthday party. His frustration and anger build when he gets stuck in immobile traffic on an LA freeway. Abandoning his car, he embarks on an angry, violent fight against common everyday life. Namely, a gang who tries to steal his briefcase, not having enough change for a call, a shopkeeper who overcharges, and missing last orders for a fast food breakfast. His grimmest encounter is with a vile neo-Nazi (Forrest). A softly spoken cop on the last day of his job, Prendergast (Duvall), picks up the trail or mayhem and tracks D-FENS.
What makes this an innovative film is Joel Schumacher's bold eschewing of the good-guy-verses-bad-guy Hollywood convention. Instead we're invited to identify and have compassion for D-FENS' madness and sadness. Douglas reigns supreme throughout, turning in a near career best (second only to Wall Street). Robert Duvall, too, gives an impeccable performance is as the worn out cop on D-FENs' case. Topped with a taut script and Schumacher's eye for narrative tension Falling Down is a masterful, all-consuming thriller that demands to be seen. Strangely, two years later Schumacher shattered his credibility with Batman Forever.
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