This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Old Sparky
Plot Overview
Diana Purlow (Dina Meyer) proves that
“attractiveness and scientific curiosity are not mutually
exclusive.” In her high school days her zealous political work
extended to fleshly favors to campaigners, but when she, a minor,
found herself a girl in trouble, she had to distance herself
to quell the rumors. She became a scientist at Brookhaven National
Laboratories where she developed a “truth detector” called
a brain poly-scan. It projects human memories onto a computer screen.
She has permission to try it out on death row inmate Cesar (Marco
Rodriguez) a “good man” with PTSD who can't remember how a woman's mutilated
corpse found its way into his car. Circumstantial evidence was enough
to convict him … along with him being poor, brown, Catholic and
ugly. The scan was not conclusive, though Dr. Purlow was convinced of his innocence.
She watches him fry.
To establish a baseline she has permission
from prison warden Earl Blakely (Dennis Hopper) to use it on convicted
serial killer Jesse Mowatt (Pavan Grover.) Imagine her surprise when
the device displays Mowatt killing the woman Cesar was convicted for.
She takes her conclusions to her former lover now governor's aide
Kenny (Jonathan Levit) who is willing to put their past behind him
but as he is planning a run for national office he worries what a
determined press will discover if she resurfaces with something
this controversial. The governor J.J. Fitzwarren won't even talk
to her because it was his love child she had to abort and he doesn't
want any “negative publicity” to affect his reelection.
They consider it unproven science and drop her like a hot potato.
Ideology
Due
to childhood memory drills from his Protestant father, Jesse “knows
every verse,” so he'd understand capital punishment from
the Bible well enough. To keep violence in check after the Flood,
God instituted the death penalty: (Gen. 9:5) “And surely your blood
of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require
it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will
I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall
his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” In
primitive societies without sophisticated implements, wild beasts
were used, e.g. lions den,
snake pit, ant hill. A man's brother was expected to carry out retribution
before they had a developed legal system. After that, there were laws.
King Nebuchadnezzar (630?–562 bc) condemned the prophet Daniel to the
lions' den for having prayed to the wrong God, but God closed the
lions' mouths, and then the officials who'd accused Daniel were fed
to the lions instead.
From the way Jesse manipulates
his female fans in the courtroom, we figure he as a pretty baby
had had his way with his lenient mom; she couldn't control him. That
fell to his dad who was frustrated in his attempts at discipline.
He laments, “God must hate me to give me you.” For what
it's worth, Jesse the child rebel would know his place under the Mosaic
law (Deut. 21:18-21):
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
It was a corporate punishment from “all the men of his city” and we do see abusive treatment from the guards and cops as he slowly makes his way to his determined end. He might as well have been stoned. For his drunkenness in Mexico, he was transported athirst under the hot sun. For his gluttony he was given substandard prison fare to eat. And it gets worse.
(Deut.
21:22-23) “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death,
and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body
shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise
bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that
thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance.” On the wall in the warden's office hangs a picture
of a man—Christ?—being crucified on a cross, a particularly
painful way to go. Mowatt was infected with a parasitic worm from
an unsanitary Mexican jail cell; he was no stranger to pain.
The installation of an electric chair
powered by AC was more
deadly than DC. To be sure,
one doesn't want to be shocked by either, but AC is worse. Due to the material composition of
the iron core of a transformer and other factors, the most efficient
frequency for transmission of AC is 60 cycles per second (cps,) which is close enough to the heart's
regulating pulses to arrest its beating. That's what awaits Mowatt,
but he is so used to accepting punishment by then that old sparky
doesn't hold for him the same terror as it did for the previous occupant
of the chair. He seems resigned to his punishment as he's used to it.
His meeting with the scientist piques his interest and he starts hitting on her, not for her beauty but for her first name of all things: Diana. To borrow an historical reference from author Christopher Morley:
Do you remember that fine story in the Bible, when the business interests of Ephesus seemed to be threatened by St. Paul's preaching? He was telling them that Diana wasn't a real god, only an idol; but the silversmiths' Chamber of Commerce, who did a big traffic in images, were pretty sore about it. [Acts 19:34] “All with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” There's a lot of Ephesianism in the human animal. (234-5)
Mowatt seems
to have some kind of agenda to expose a lot of death sentences as
bogus in order to raise such a hue and cry that the judges will be
forced to reexamine them wholesale.
Production Values
“” (2002) was directed by Thomas J. Wright. Pavan Grover wrote the screenplay and also plays Jesse Mowatt, a dark, serial killer. It also stars Michelle Wolff and Mark Voltura. Dina Meyer looked beautiful but her acting was so-so. The other actors made the grade, although Dennis Hopper would have done better to lighten up some.
MPAA rated it R for strong violence and gore, disturbing images, language and some sexuality. This one plays like a soap opera: the film has a characteristic, underdeveloped tint and the dialogue is numbingly flat. Its revelations occur in stages and the plot builds up in layers. If you're not familiar enough with the Bible, you may miss some of its tacit references, although I've tried to help. The music by Jeff Marsh won't make the hit parade.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
Be careful about bringing a date to this one, because it broaches controversial topics like capital punishment, police brutality, child discipline, immigration, women's careers, abortion, religion and race. And if sadistic guards aren't your cup of tea, how do you feel about gory corpses? Probably something in it to offend everyone.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Better than watching TV. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Lions den picture is copyright © Sweet Publishing. Licensed by
FreeBibleimages. 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Morley, Christopher. Human Being. Copyright 1932, by Christopher Morley. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1932. Print.
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