Mojave Movie Review

Mojave (2015)

Rent Mojave on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: William Monahan
Directed by: William Monahan
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund, Louise Bourgoin, Walton Goggins, Mark Wahlberg
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
Morose movie actor (or producer) Tom wanders into the desert to clear his head and meets Jack the drifter, who follows him.

Verdict
What's the point of this movie? The plot is thin, and it comes across as more of an allegory about the demons and evil inside each person. Though, that's being generous. Oscar Isaac delivers a great performance in a movie that's sure to disappoint.
Skip it.

Review
This movie is written and directed by William Monahan, who scripted excellent films like The Departed (2006) and Kingdom of Heaven (2005), but he also wrote The Gambler (2014) which I didn't like at all.
With Oscar Isaac in this, I expected at least a  good performance.

Tom (Garrett Hedlund) is a tortured artist in the film industry. He is or was an actor, but is looking at producing. The film is vague on that front. Tom goes into the desert because otherwise the plot would halt in a dead stop. He has everything, but he isn't happy because life is hard when you're rich.
He flips his Jeep in such a cheap editing movie. He's driving and then it jump cuts to the Jeep on it's side. If you can't afford to have stunt drivers flip the Jeep, just have Tom hit a rock. It's noticeably low fidelity and easily could have been avoided. It looks like a glaring mistake.

Tom camps out, yelling at wolves and brandishing a knife. I guess since he's Hollywood we're supposed to accept his erratic behavior. Jack (Oscar Isaac) stumbles onto the camp, a rifle slung over his shoulder.

Tom is scared despite Jack relinquishing the rifle as Jack talks about death and life in the desert. Oscar Isaac does a great job in a role that's partially wasted in this film. He's genuinely creepy, but comes across as an evil Slingblade.
He's a mustache twirling villain with zero motivation because otherwise there would be no movie.

Mojave - I felt stranded by this movie.

Tom beats Jack unconscious, takes the rifle, and runs, with Jack in pursuit. Jack is actually a serial killer who wants to kill Tom because apparently he kills everyone he meets in the desert. Sometimes he kills people that aren't in the desert too.

Reading this film as an allegory makes it slightly better. Tom revealed or unleashed his inner evil in the desert, in the form of Jack. That or Jack is the manifestations of his demons and unrest. Jack is relentless and threatens to harm everyone in Tom's life. Tom has to tame his inner demons. Jack seems to know a lot about Tom and how he thinks, which kind of supports the allegory. The conclusion is lack luster.

It's a strange movie with little reason as to why characters do anything. Walton Goggins was underused, and Mark Wahlberg is in this too.