Blu-ray review: ‘Kalifornia’ (1993)

Anyone who doubts Brad Pitt can act should remember his Oscar nominations for “12 Monkeys” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

Or, better yet, hunker down and watch “Kalifornia,” released this week (8/3/10) on Blu-ray.

The 1993 film casts Pitt as Early Grayce, a southern-fried killer looking for a fresh start on the west coast.

He’s a natural born monster, but Pitt plays him with an intensity that overwhelms the film’s true hero, played by David Duchovny.

It’s the ugliest – and most lived-in – performance of Pitt’s still young career.

Duchovny plays Brian, a struggling writer trying to pen a book on serial killers. He plans a road trip to visit some of the places where infamous serial killers plied their trade, with the end destination being California. He enlists the aid of his chic girlfriend, Carrie (Michelle Forbes), a photographer looking for her own career big break.

A ride sharing plan pairs them up with Early and Adele (Pitt and Juliette Lewis), a scruffy duo who couldn’t be more different than their urbane hosts.

But both couples are short on cash and see California as a place ripe with second chances. What Brian and Carrie don’t know is that Early is a scoundrel who leaves a trail of dead bodies in his wake.

How convenient for Brian’s research?

“Kalifornia” makes putting that plot contrivance aside a snap. Director Dominic Sena (“Swordfish”) keeps the film’s pace as wirey as Lewis’ scrawny frame, letting the actors root into roles that should have been nothing more than a stock character role call.

Lewis dissolves into Adele, making every child-like movement feel genuine – and alarmingly real. And when Brian starts to bond with Early over a barroom scrap, you sense a real bromance brewing.

But it’s Pitt’s show from start to finish. Buried beneath a good ol’ boy cap and grimy beard, Pitt makes every movement integral to Early’s dual nature. He’s a predator who sounds slow-witted but always knows what to do or say in order to survive.

Even the way Pitt chugs a beer and hawks the occasional loogie help us understand the beastly behavior waiting to erupt.

“”Kalifornia” doesn’t offer much beyond obvious platitudes about man’s ability to kill his fellow man. And the introduction of a nuclear weapons subplot seems like a reach for intellectual clarity on the issue.

But Pitt’s performance leaves a scar that won’t easily fade.

Note: The Blu-ray edition comes with no extras save the film’s original trailer.

(Photo: Brad Pitt marks an early career high as serial killer Early Grayce in the 1993 thriller “Kalifornia.”)

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