The Traveler (2010) Reviews

• Promising and Creeping Beginning, Disappointing Conclusion

  claudio_carvalho2010-10-24

  On the Christmas Eve in a small town, a stranger (Val Kilmer) enters in the precinct and tells the Desk Sergeant Gulloy (Chris Gauthier) that he had murdered six people. Detective Alexander Black (Dylan Neal) arrests the man in a cell and Deputy Jerry Pine (Paul McGillion), Deputy Jane Hollow (Camille Sullivan), Deputy Toby Sherwood (Nels Lennarson) and Deputy Jack Hawkins (John Cassini) are not able to identify him since the stranger does not have fingerprints. They call him Mr. Nobody and Deputy Hawkins recalls that he resembles the haired drifter that they had arrested and tortured one year ago, when the daughter of Detective Black had vanished. Along the night, while Mr. Nobody confesses each murder and whistles Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem, each deputy dies. Sooner Detective Black discovers that Mr. Nobody is a revengeful spirit that has come to kill them for what they did to the drifter one year ago and they are doomed to die. "The Traveler" is a weird film with a promising and creeping beginning but also a disappointing conclusion. The mysterious and supernatural story works very well until the moment Mr. Nobody confesses that he was not innocent but guilty indeed. From this moment on, the plot becomes pointless and makes no sense, destroying what could have been a good movie. My vote is four. Title (Brazil): "O Viajante" ("The Traveler")

• "They Pay You for the Bad Ones Too..."

  raegan_butcher2010-09-25

  When asked about a particular cinematic floater in which he had appeared, Robert Mitchum replied, "They pay you for the bad ones too!" I am assuming that Val Kilmer has adopted that as his personal mantra to get him through this latest phase of his career. So far in the past week I have watched Kilmer in The Traveler, Streets of Blood and The Thaw and all of them are terrible.Not his fault, of course, he's just an actor. He is forced to deal with the scripts he is given. The Traveler shows promise at the start, despite the derivative nature of the script and the stereotypes that take the place of characters. Once the supernatural huggery-muggery begins that promise rapidly begins to fade. The story makes no sense. At first it is hinted that Kilmer is the ghost of a wrongly killed man and he is going to enact revenge on the deserving occupants of the police station a la High Plains Drifter. If the script would have stayed with that angle it might have produced an interesting film,if only on the simplistic and preachy level of an old Twilight Zone. But the pernicious influence of M. Night Shyamalan on a whole generation of screenwriters forces the offending scripter to try a big twist at the end and--a common failing with gimmicks of this type--the big reveal is absurd and makes no sense. It also invalidates everything that came before in terms of logic or coherence. Ah well, better luck next time.

• A drifter confesses to murders before they happen. Really good idea, never got going. What happened to Jim Morrison?? I say C+

  cosmo_tiger2011-01-22

  A drifter (Kilmer) walks into a police dept. and confesses to 6 murders...before they have happened. The idea for this movie is very cool and I was actually excited to see a Val Kilmer movie again. Once again though he let me down. This is not anywhere close to the crap he has been coming out with for the last 10 years or so, this one had so much potential but never really got going. When the drifter starts to confess to a murder someone in the police station mysteriously dies in the same manner as the confession (sounds cool right). The problem is that this movie just felt like it was trying to get really good and never got the push it needed. If they would have cut a half hour out of it and did it as a TV show in the vain of CSI or Detroit 187 it would have been great. Too many flashbacks and repeating the same conversations over and over again made the movie feel flat and left me wanting more from it. Don't get me wrong, it's not terrible but it could have been SO much better. I give it a C+. Would I watch again? - Probably Not

• Ridiculous...

  styxxoo12010-09-17

  Oké, so. Val Kilmer once again playing a role that's far beneath him. With actors not worth mentioning, in a ridiculous story with a ridiculous plot twist. Here we have a drifter, apparently on a vendetta, turning himself into the police who are the obvious victims. Oh BTW I forgot, a little girl dies in the beginning of the movie, which makes you think: 'Maybe that's why he wants revenge'. But no, the girl turns out to be the murdered daughter of a detective in the precinct. So why is he 'killing' these cops? WHO KNOWS. And the end twist which is the single most ridiculous thing about this movie, only get's you so far as to start thinking: 'Wait, so we were rooting for a child murderer and suspected pedophile the whole movie without knowing it?'. Btw, did I mention it? He has supernatural powers. Yep, a child murderer with supernatural powers taking his revenge on the police. Thank you Michael Oblowitz, for ruining at least 40 minutes of my life before I decided to fast forward through all the bulls**t.

• Better than I expected

  Boopmebaby2011-02-19

  This is not a great part for Val but I can see the intrigue in doing the role and his performance seemed focused but sub standard. The story is much like a modern day High Plains Drifter with new twists and originality. Still a cheesy B horror but I enjoyed the directors attempt at making a good film and appreciated that the film wasn't full of the constantly repeated stupid acts by the characters that make most horror movies painful to watch. Although part of the story plot was a little over the top I still liked the concept. The location for the movie could have been a lot better I think it added to the cheesiness of the film. But maybe that was the directors direction. I liked the movie.