'Demolition' is a tour de force for Jake Gyllenhaal but the film isn't a success
Jake Gyllenhaal has been racking up an impressive roster of weirdos and renegades in the movies, most recently as the bullish boxer in 鈥淪outhpaw,鈥� the hypercreepy videographer in 鈥淣ightcrawler,鈥� and the doppelg盲ngers in 鈥淓nemy.鈥� Not all of these efforts have been altogether successful, either as performances or as movies, but Gyllenhaal is one of the few actors of his generation who, at least in his post-鈥淧rince of Persia鈥� career, has really tried to challenge himself.聽
I wish I could say that Jean-Marc Vall茅e鈥檚 鈥淒emolition,鈥� in which Gyllenhaal plays Davis, a Wall Street financier whose life unravels after his wife鈥檚 death, is a success. The best I can say is that it鈥檚 another tour de force for Gyllenhaal, although his intensity isn鈥檛 matched by the movie itself, which sacrifices much of its power by too often settling for easy, nut-brain effects.聽Grade: C+ (Rated R for language, some sexual聽references, drug use, and disturbing behavior.)
