Expressway may bring up memories of On the Job. It is another movie that centers on two hitmen: a weary veteran on his way out, and a hungry newbie eager to make his kills. This movie has more meager ambitions, however. It is mainly an exercise in style, the movie rambling through a circuitous narrative that mostly serves as a platform from which it can deliver its light soaked brand of degenerative violence. And in this respect, the film is a success, but the story it ends up telling isn’t particularly interesting.
Ben and Morris (Alvin Anson and Aljur Abrenica) are hired killers on a mission to kill three men who have run afoul of a powerful figure. This is the first time they’re working together, and their clashing dispositions make them an odd pair. Morris seems intent on pushing Ben’s buttons, displaying bloodthirstiness unusual even for this line of work. At some point, Ben decides he’s had enough, and he tells his superiors that this is going to be his last job. Of course, this life proves to be difficult to leave behind, as the sins of the past catch up with the old man, with the younger killer right by his side.
The movie opens on Ben waiting in a darkened house, gun in hand, lit by beams streaming through the slatted window and flashing Christmas lights. It’s an arresting visual, and the film mostly continues in this way. It finds really interesting ways to shoot its content. A lot of this film takes place inside a moving vehicle, but it never feels visually limited. The camera seems to have been placed in every conceivable space inside the car, providing more angles than one might expect from such a small setting. The film is visually stylish, to say the least.
But there isn’t much else to hold on to. The story drifts slowly towards a heavily telegraphed twist. The characters talk and talk without really getting anywhere, circling the same arguments for nearly half the runtime. And in the end, the film doesn’t really go anywhere interesting. These are stock characters, neither providing much opportunity for depth. The movie doesn’t really go deep enough into these characters to turn the easy personality markers into matters of substance. It just ends up forcing a relationship dynamic that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
And along the way, the movie manages to put together a couple of pretty lurid scenes, ones that don’t really add much to the overall picture. The movie doesn’t really build to much of a theme. It mainly displays nihilistic tendencies, getting off on the stylish depiction of sex and murder. The acting is okay. Alvin Anson does everything that the role requires of him. He gruffly makes his way through every scene, displaying the regret that isn’t fully written into this story. Aljur Abrenica is mostly believable as Morris, though he isn’t quite able to sell the real mania when it comes.
Expressway is pretty easy to watch. Again, the movie has style to spare, and the visuals go a really long way in making this film watchable. But there isn’t really much more to it than that. The story really stalls in the back end, the film losing narrative momentum as it tries to find a way to put off revealing its last few secrets. It ends up settling for lurid content that puts the whole enterprise into question. The style certainly can’t be dismissed, but this film is just severely lacking substance.
My Rating:
