Swiss army man is 2016 Comedy movie written and directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan and it tells the story of Hank who has gotten himself stranded on a desert island for some time, given up all hope he decides to commit suicide but just before he does a man’s body washes up on the beach and this is where things get odd. Hank befriends the body and the two go set out on a adventure to escape the island with the washed up body’s limitless possible skill set.
The movie had its premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival to pretty much unanimous despise as my research found that walk outs and heckles were far from uncommon. Now this is to be taken with a pinch of salt as the Internet can be a place of extreme exaggeration, but if this is true then I have to say that this particular audience missed out big time by walking out before it had finished, as Swiss Army Man is such a fun, entertaining and utterly unique watch.
The film stars Paul Dano as Hank and Daniel Radcliffe as the body that washes ashore named Manny. As far as performances go in terms of dead bodies Daniel Radcliffe is awesome in this movie, he is hilarious to hear and watch as he sits there like the stiff rotten corpse that he is and just rallies of an effortless performance without actually doing really anything as he is obviously playing a dead body. Paul Dano is at his best here, also giving an effortlessly entertaining and captivating performance with both humour and drama thrown into the mix these two on screen are gold and have some of the best chemistry in a buddy comedy I have seen despite again one of the two is a dead body.
If I had to give a reason on why I think people didn’t give this movie a chance it would probably be the humour. It’s a lot of fart and dick jokes and any joke you can make about bodily functions, and it can come across as a little juvenile. However the main plot point is that there is a ‘Dead’ body that can speak, sweep across oceans like a boat, shoot like a machine gun from his mouth and use his penis as a compass. Now you can’t tell me that you expected this to take itself too seriously 100%of the time, given the context of the film.
The film does have its dramatic moments that were actually quite heartwarming and well done which was something I didn’t really expect but with the talent in front and behind the camera it shows that with the right direction and push, literally anything is possible and that’s a message that is hidden between the lines of this movie amongst many other such as depression and friendship.
There honestly isn’t much I can say about this movie without spoiling the movie so all I can recommend is to go and watch it. It’s honestly great… weird, but great
Final Score.
Title:Great
An utterly bizarre concept and its tongue in cheek approach of its title, Swiss Army Man manages to pull off a plethora of different achievements in a movie that is in a genre of its own and definitely deserves to be on any watch list and hopefully you don’t need Daniel Radcliffe’s dick to point you in the right direction.
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