Film Review: White Sands (1992)

It is always commendable when film makers try to engage viewers’ brain, but they should never overdo it. In case of thrillers that leads to overcomplicated plots that would test audience’s patience and require skills that most film makers don’t possess. One such example can be found in White Sands, 1992 film directed by Roger Donaldson.

Protagonist, played by Willem Dafoe, is Ray Dolezal, deputy sheriff in rural New Mexico. The plot begins when he is called to investigate death of an unknown man found in desert with gunshot wound to the head and suitcase containing half a million dollars. Dolezal has very few clues about man’s identity or whether his death was murder of suicide. One of such clues is a phone number which Dolezal uses to impersonate the dead man and meet his contacts. When he tries to do so, he encounters two men. One is shady businessman Gorman Lennox (played by Mickey Rourke) and the other is FBI agent Greg Meeker (played by Samuel L. Jackson). The latter explains that the money was part of sting operation against illegal arms traders. Dolezal volunteers to continue with it and, apart from Lennox, meets Lane Bodin (played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), rich heiress who was dead man’s partner but who, despite everything, immediately decides to follow charade. As the arms smuggling deal goes on, Dolezal begins to wonder whether some people involved in it told the truth and whether they want to keep all the money for themselves.

In No Way Out director Roger Donaldson has proven that he could deal with complicated thrillers. Unfortunately, unlike that film, based on celebrate crime fiction classic, White Sands was based on underwhelming and unimaginative script by Daniel Pyne which tries to make things interesting by throwing various plot twists – usually those involving double crosses – into the plot, but the ultimate result is too confusing yet predictable. Film also suffers from poor characterisation – Pyne and Donaldson never bother to explain why Dolezal, who is described as dedicated family man, would risk his life and career over something that could have very well been a wild goose chase. Even worse is the idea of Dolezal suddenly becoming object of an attraction by Lane, an experienced and resourceful woman who should have known better. White Sands nevertheless starts promising, with great opening shot in the desert and intriguing mystery, but begins falling apart as soon Dolezal goes on his great adventure. Some details, like ninja-like female thugs or fake sex scene, look like they were artificially inserted into the script to make it “spicy”, but in the end make the film look trashy. Willem Dafoe doesn’t have much to do with his role, but he is solid, and same can be said of Mastrantonio, Rourke and Jackson. One thing that makes this film more intriguing today than three decades ago is plot dealing with the idea of rich but naive Americans financing various noble “freedom fighters” in distant parts of the worlds and how the US government exploits the ensuing mayhem to justify and maintain its military-industrial complex.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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