The Best Of The Worst 'Bushwick' Reviews
"What if America has another civil war?" That's both a real question and the pitch behind "Bushwick," an indie action-thriller from directors Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott. Brittany Snow ("Pitch Perfect") and Dave Bautista ("Guardians of the Galaxy") play the leads: a young Brooklynite named Lucy and a grizzled vet named Stupe. Their paths cross when a group of well-armed secessionists descend upon Brooklyn with full force. Is "Bushwick" in good taste? Well, the reviews haven't been too kind:
The Notion Of A Surprise Civil War Makes No Sense
See, Texas and a string of other Southern states have had enough of us damn Yankees, yadda yadda, secession, yadda yadda taking liberal strongholds captive to assure the president signing off on secession. And by the way, these white men/militia members who decided to take Bushwick hostage chose this gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood because they thought its "ethno-diversity" would mean its residents would be less likely to band together and resist.
[Pajiba]
"It wasn't supposed to be this hard," because Bushwick's large population of ethnic diversity should have meant less weaponry. WRONG. Bushwick was supposed to be an easy grab. Leverage for bartering. Instead, it's a painfully obvious message that minorities can – and will – fight back, with intent fumbled in the most hamfisted way. Gang-bangers take hostages, Hasidic Jews form shotgun gangs, teens brandish pistols for looting – lawlessness reigns supreme.
Certainly, nobody involved in this project seems to have considered the absurdity of another U.S. civil war taking citizens completely by surprise, as if such an extreme national rupture could occur with zero preamble. (They might not expect the first attack, but they'd damn well know who's attacking and why.)
The Commentary On US Politics Is Underdeveloped
The filmmakers feign boldness in tackling national politics, but revert to coyness and caricature when it comes to local matters, gesturing toward a multiculturalism that isn't even skin deep and sweeping gentrification under the rug. The civil war "Bushwick" imagines is mostly about white people, which kind of makes the movie a piece of historical revisionism about something that hasn't even happened yet.
You'd think there'd be something more to raging fires and black-suited militants. You would think – but that's not the case. Crumbling skylines and Red-Dawn-meets-Purge vibes can only get you so far.
All the same, "Bushwick" puts a meaningfully blunt point on the chasm between Americans in the North and the South, and somehow, even as the film establishes a clear moral distinction between invading Southern militias and defending Northerners, the results feel icky at best and overwhelmingly grim at worst.
The Decision To Fake One Continuous Take Is Tiresome
"Bushwick," filmed to look mostly like one long take, is 90 minutes of real time that feels like five minutes of story and eighty-five minutes of "Why am I following these people and their every walking/running step?"
Bushwick stacks long take after long take, weaving us out of subway stations, down streets, into alleys, down into basements and up onto the rooftops of a local school. Yet not every sequence demands this treatment[…] So, we are stuck with blandly painted characters (I'm a janitor! I go to college!) as they slowly lumber up stairwells, or are stuck listening to Lucy's shrieking and oversexed sister (Angelic Zambrana) natter on and on.
[Pajiba]
It's a series of hysterical, obviously spliced long takes, which directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion have attempted to assemble into a stream of batshit-crazy set pieces. Unfortunately, as much as you might want to be impressed by its kamikaze visual ingenuity, Bushwick is a hollow, ultimately unsatisfying exercise in organized chaos.
The Script Leans On New York Stereotypes In A Bad Way
Along the way, they meet fellow denizens of the Big Apple and observe the ways humans mutate when placed in extreme situations. (For the most part, they turn into violent looters. Remember: The commentary here isn't very well-developed. Being as most of the other characters in the film belong either to roving street mobs or violent gangs, and being as they're mostly minorities, that commentary is also, well, kinda troubling.)
Bushwick just wants to be another Cloverfield and doesn't have the chops to pull even that off. A satirist might have spun this into something pointed and fun, with surreal stops along the way for Roberta's pizza, used vinyl or artisanal pickles. Nope. This is all downbeat and somber, with an ending that seems especially pretentious. Save your money for rent.
[TimeOut]
Bushwick feels like a John Carpenter film without the societal skewering. A nasty, hate-filled movie with shaky detailing. Texas' tactical strike is nothing but an excuse for hood stereotypes to remind preppy Caucasian girls "they don't belong" and bring out the worst in people – which isn't [the screenwriters'] desired intent.
'Bushwick' Plods Along And Doesn't Have A Good Pay Off
Realistically depicting full-scale domestic terrorism is one thing, but directors Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott seem unaware of how their long-take gimmick — the cuts are easily determined — destroys logic, emboldens the use of stereotypes, and kills suspense.
The opportunity for forced perspective feels wasted and the movie becomes a trudging slog from first scene to last. It's just flat when it needs to be taut and engaging. There are too few surprises in this urban nightmare, and I cared so little about Lucy and Stupe that I was hoping the cameraman would get as bored as I was and find a more interesting person to follow.
The film demands much of its audience but rather than pay off the emotional toll it takes on us, it viciously punches us right in the gut instead. It's a mean, mean movie, and its meanness epitomizes its utter pointlessness as both entertainment and commentary.
TL;DR
Bushwick imagines nothing less than the collapse of the United States Of America, with half the country in armed revolt. At a time when that possibility can feel all too frighteningly real, it's dispiriting to see it employed as little more than an excuse to engineer a live-action Grand Theft Auto.
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