[yasr_overall_rating]
The life of Kim Davis, the young live-in girlfriend of legendary Las Vegas casino owner Ray Easler, is thrown upside down when she falls for Matt Duvall, the man Ray hires to bury his $20 million fortune of silver on the floor of the Nevada desert.
Ray Easler is a complicated man. He’s an amateur philosopher, a great (but also disinterested and terrible) businessman, a desperately lonely soul, an unlovable monster, and a guy who can’t get over his daddy issues. I know all of this thanks to Easler’s relentless narration – “Death in the Desert” is so enamored of these rambling, self-absorbed ruminations that it literally gets to cut off dialogue, as in you watch people continue to have a conversation in a now-muted scene, while Ray shares a pointless anecdote about how his dad was a swell (but also ruthless and intimidating) guy.
“Death in the Desert” tells the story of Ray Easler (Michael Madsen) and his live-in girlfriend, Kim Davis (Shayla Beesley). Kim wafted into Las Vegas after her stepfather died, and is working in a strip club when she meets Ray. It’s lust at first sight, but because Ray is the kind of drug-addled gambling kingpin who loves too much, he quickly leaves his wife so that he can be with Kim. Kim drifts apart from her friends at the strip club, and struggles to connect with Ray’s family. We learn that Easler’s in some sort of trouble with the state gaming commission due to his drug use. How does he decide to protect his fortune? By burying bags of silver on a ranch owned by his family, of course. Oh, and he hires a local goon, Matt Duvall (John Palladino), to help oversee the silver burial, which leads to an affair between Matt and Kim, who bond over their shared love of exchanging meaningful glances. The film doesn’t build to a climax so much as stumble into an ending; I won’t spoil what happens, but it delivers on its title in the most insultingly asinine way.
Madsen has a solid grasp on how to play Easler, an outlaw by nature who found himself with a legitimate business he didn’t know what to do with. The actor is one of the film’s executive producers, which might help explain how Easler wound up all over “Death in the Desert.” The narration adds a rich and superfluous back story for his character, and bends over backwards to ensure that we recognize Easler’s numbed contempt for life (his life, and life in general). As stifling as his presence is, he’s the only character with any real spark. The actors surrounding him operate like they’re only in the film as part of their court-appointed community service.
“Death in the Desert” wrings everything it can out of Easler, but falters in regards to plot, ideas, and visual flair. Las Vegas feels wan and sluggish; blurry neon sits like radioactive fog over lifeless streets. I don’t know how they did it, but they made one of the most active and notorious tourist cities in the world feel dull. There’s hardly a story here, just clumps of tired tropes plastered onto the dysfunctional relationship between Easler and Kim. They love each other, but they’re unhappy. Easler is perpetually miserable, and Kim feels disconnected from everything. The two “twists” that comprise the plot – the burying of the silver, and the affair between Kim and Matt – are weightless. The affair is a foregone conclusion; Easler admits upfront (via voice over, natch) that he’s confident Matt will make a play for Kim, and then hires him anyway. Ultimately the affair, and the silver plot, lead nowhere. Outside of these events, it’s mostly Kim and Easler stumbling through their relationship. There’s lip service paid to someone wanting Easler dead, but it’s insultingly ham-fisted in execution. Late in the film and without warning, Kim asks if someone wants to kill Easler. He assures her that nothing will happen. In the next scene, a mystery character in a luxury car drives by and opens fire on Easler’s mansion. That’s it.
The film doesn’t strive to be anything more than a seedy morality tale, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Watching bad people do bad things can be fun, if we care about those rotten people, or if we’re excited by the terrible things they intend to do. Unfortunately, “Death in the Desert” can’t be bothered to do anything more than give Ray Easler an opportunity to talk over his own story. Having watched that story myself, I can’t blame him for his inattention.
Available on Video On Demand February 16th
