Southland Tales: Grade F

F
Southland Tales (2006)
Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, Sean William Scott, Bai Ling, Janine Garofalo, Justin Timberlake, many others. Writer-Director Richard Kelly.

Terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in Texas and the US tries to respond appropriately. This is a futuristic apocalypse showing a dystopian society. The actual destruction and effects of a nuclear explosion are not considered, but instead there is focus on generating a police/military response (to what?). Interesting, wacko characters try to work the social system for personal gain. Johnson seems to be some sort of ex-military guy who has important information about something, but has amnesia. Nothing makes any sense, and I could not discern any plot or narrative thread. So taken as just a collection of individual scenes that you might want to look at, some of them are visually interesting, several are satirical, and many are funny, especially in the first half hour or so. But since the movie is total chaos, confusion is quickly followed by boredom. I came away with nothing.