Nomads - Film Review

Like all red-blooded Americans during the Christmas holidays, I celebrated the birth of Jesus by watching Bruce Willis throw Alan Rickman off a skyscraper. There's a lot to be said about John McTiernan's penultimate film, Die Hard, but I won't be getting into that today. Instead, I decided to check out one of his earlier works as this one caught my eye.

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Where You Can Find It: I saw this on Amazon Video where it is available for rent/purchase.

General Information 
Nomads is a horror film that was released on 7 March 1986. It was written and directed by John McTiernan with Stephen Ramsay providing the cinematography. Bill Conti composed for the film while Atlantic Releasing Corporation distributed. Although the budget is unknown, I would assume it is quite small considering the film's lack of elaborate special effects and blockbuster performers. With that said, its box office haul was pretty thin with only a little over $2 million. Critically, it lacks a page on Metacritic, however Roger Ebert gave it one and half stars, while it sports a pretty gnarly 30% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

The Story

Overworked ER doctor, Dr. Eileen Flax (played by Lesley Anne-Down), is slogging through her second 24-hour shift when she's called to see to a man that had just arrived at her hospitals covered in scars. The man (Pierce Brosnan) is rambling in French and bites the weary doctor right before dying quite violently. Shortly after being treated, Dr. Flax learns that the crazed Frenchman, Jean Charles Pommier, was an anthropologist who had recently moved to Los Angeles with his wife (Anna Maria Monticelli). Somehow, Dr. Flax begins to relive Pommier's final days where she learns how he met his untimely demise. She'll have to use this supernatural knowledge wisely though, as whatever killed Pommier may now be seeking to kill her too.

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Jean Charles Pommier has seen some shit, and now Dr. Flax will too

Later in his career, McTiernan would be well-known for subverting well-established movie tropes, and one could argue it's conceivable that he attempts this here too by killing off Pommier in the opening scene. Unfortunately, Pommier's replacement, Dr. Flax, gets very little time to become established as a protagonist as the audience spends the majority of the film watching flashbacks featuring Pommier's downfall. The flashbacks present the constant question as to what is real and what isn't as the story progresses; however, there's never much of an answer by the closing credits, which left the entire plot hollow.

Ending aside, I generally enjoyed watching Pommier's descent into madness as he starts out fairly conventional. When he sees a bunch of mysterious street punks hanging out near his newly-graffitied garage, he takes it upon himself to study them and film them. One could argue that he puts himself in needless danger after a while, but I think McTiernan does a well-enough job at establishing Pommier as a bit of a thrill-seeker when it comes to his work.

Special Effects/Atmosphere

It's fairly clear that this is a fairly low-budget film, as most shooting locations are in back-alleys or sparsely furnished homes. With that said, I never found a reason to hold the budget against McTiernan and I actually applaud him for accomplishing so much with so little. Major credit should be given to the film's makeup artist, Bron Roylance, for his excellent work on the street punks. There's something off about each of the nomadic toughs that cross paths with Pommier, and I think this emphasizes their cryptic nature.

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There's something particularly unsettling about Pommier's nomadic street punks

Although I'm not a major Ted Nugent fan, there's a pretty fun montage near the middle of the film featuring one of his tracks, which speaks to the film's overall serviceable sound editing. I recall a few nightmarish-like scenes that are only more chilling with some pulse-pounding ambience. These auditory additions were also pretty fascinating when applied to some of Pommier's more outlandish scenes.

The Acting

I have the fortune of having seen Pierce Brosnan in more than just his James Bond roles, and although I found his French accent absolutely detestable, this may be the best acting I've seen him pull off. According to his IMDB profile, this is Brosnan's first time as a lead in a film and I could feel his intensity. Audiences will see a side of Brosnan that directly contradicts his now-established roguish profile and I think it's a shame that we never got more repeat performances of this kind of acting from the man. Based on my research, Brosnan wasn't the original pick for the role of Pommier, which may explain why McTiernan tried to have an Irishman fill a Frenchman's shoes. With that said, I think McTiernan would've been better off by adjusting Pommier's background to better accommodate Brosnan's national roots.

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We see a new side to Brosnan in this, too bad it's French though...

Regrettably, there's not much to say about Lesley Anne-Down or Anna Maria Monticelli. I never found either of their performances all that remarkable, which is partially explainable as Monticelli was apparently in a relationship with McTiernan during filming. Anne-Down's Dr. Flax never felt established enough to be worth remembering and Monticelli's Niki had little to do beyond being ushered around her house by other characters. I will give Mary Woronov some accolades however, as she absolutely nails her performance as one of the creepy street punks. She brings an androgynous energy akin to Tim Curry from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and is a highlight of this film.

The Best of the Best: Some clever foreshadowing near the beginning.

The Worst of the Worst: Pierce Brosnan's French accent.

Calhooey Score: 4/10 - Below Average

Would I Recommend?

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We might just have to drop this one

Nomads tries to apply a special spin to a fairly standard supernatural story; however, it trips over its own feet at the finish line. Fans of Pierce Brosnan and/or 1980's horror may consider renting this, but there isn't much here for anyone else. I would recommend McTiernan's other works instead, and I must admit that having seen this makes me curious to see The Thomas Crown Affair as that is another collaboration between McTiernan and Brosnan that has a larger budget and more experience.

-------------------------------------------------Spoiler Comments-----------------------------------------------------

• I barely recognized Brosnan at the beginning of this. It wasn't until the closeup that I realized it was him.
• Maybe I'm crazy, but Cassie's story about the man with the tire iron was McTiernan foreshadowing Pommier's breaking point with the Innuat.
• I think that McTiernan went a bit too far when he had Pommier witness the Innuat murdering a man. I don't see how Pommier didn't run off to the cops then and there. I get that he came back to see if the body was still there, but he still seemed somewhat sane at that point of the story.
• So, here's my evidence that the Innuat are real:
• The real estate agent also saw them and painted over their graffiti.
• The newspaper clippings were found by other people so those must be real too.
• Here's my evidence that the Innuat may not be real:
• None of Pommier's photos of them show them.
• The man they killed seemingly vanished.
• Any time Pommier interacted with them, he was typically alone with them and/or no one else noticed.
• I would argue the destruction of the Pommier residence could be evidence that they are real, but it's possible Dr. Flax and Niki did that on their own as some sort of psychotic breakdown.
• That part with the nuns was nonsense.
• Biker Brosnan is the coolest.

----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------

(1) Nomads. (1986). Nomads film image. Amazon Video. Retrieved from: https://www.amazon.com/Nomads-John-McTiernan/dp/B0142KFHRO. 

(2) Kluger, B. (2015, August 19). Pommier and Dr. Flax image. High-Def Digest. Retrieved from: https://bluray.highdefdigest.com/19326/nomads.html.

(3) House of Indulgence. (2017, February 26). Woronov in attic image. Blogger. Retrieved from: https://www.houseofselfindulgence.blogspot.com/2017/02/nomads-john-mctiernan-1986.html.

(4) IMDB. (n.d.). Brosnan in Nomads image. Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091647/mediaviewer/rm2451130624/.

(5) Film Freak Central. (2015, September 21). Falling gif. Retrieved from: https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2015/09/nomads.html.