SVS: “Conspiracy Theory”

Director Richard Donner is surely best known as the man behind the original Superman, which many (if not my contrarian self) still consider one of the finest superhero films ever made. He also helmed all four of the Lethal Weapon films, a highly entertaining (and surprisingly lucrative) series that doesn’t try to do too much and carefully stays out of the way of its stars and their undeniable charismata. (That last one is a rare ability, actually. Surprisingly rare. If you’ve got a real star on set, the temptation is to try and match him/her/them. And that’s almost always a mistake.)

So when you think about it, Donner’s really come a long way. In fact, looking over his more recent films — Maverick (some fun moments, but drags itself down), Assassins (pretty much meh), 16 Blocks (I might have liked this one more if I could have understood a word Mos Def said), and Timeline (Hahahahahaha! No. Just keep moving.) — one might be tempted to replace “come a long way” in that phrase with “fallen.” As in “Donner’s fallen a long way” or even “fallen on hard times.”

But he made Conspiracy Theory, so get that “fallen” out of here. Oh, and it’s on NETFLIX INSTANT, which is how this whole train of thought started in the first place. It’s also available for rent from AMAZON INSTANT($), YOUTUBE($), and SOME OTHERS($). And its pretty great.

A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.

I’m not entirely sure why I find this film so fun (or why I consider it the ultimate example of recent Donner excellence and the best defense of the tail-end of his career. Probably at least partially because I don’t hate Julia Roberts as much in it as I do in most other films. (She and Gibson are really great together here.) And probably because Crazy, Crazy Gibson has always been my favorite kind of Gibson (especially when compared with Bitter, Bitter Gibson Who Must Violently Avenge His Wife And Kids.) And probably because Patrick Stewart is such a great dead-pan villain. (That nose-bandage thing still creeps me out.)

But mostly, I think it’s just because it’s a tightly-written, engaging, tongue-in-cheek, fun(ny) thriller that “doesn’t try to do too much and carefully stays out of the way of its stars and their undeniable charismata.” (Also, the music is awesome — both Carter Burwell’s score and the clever way in which he uses pop songs. And the opening credits are fantastic.)

There’s just something about conspiracy theories that we can’t stop watching, right?