Review: Tusk

Director: Kevin Smith

Writer: Kevin Smith

Starring: Justin Long, Michael Parks, Johnny Depp, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez

Release Date: September 19, 2014 (September 6, 2014 TIFF)

Plot: While interviewing a mysterious seafarer named Howard Howe, podcaster Wallace Bryton is taken hostage by Howe, who attempts to turn him into a walrus. Meanwhile, Bryton's best friend Teddy Craft and girlfriend Ally Leon team up with an ex-cop named Guy Lapointe to investigate his disappearance.

"There, there. It'll be all right, Mr Tusk"

Films always force the audience to feel a certain way or think under an influenced manner. They get in touch with our emotions and stroke at our stream of consciousness. Other times they you leave with nothing to say but “What the fuck.” Kevin Smith's latest film Tusk is exactly that. An idea that takes Misery, The Human Centipede and combines them with the absurd, yet hilarious mind of Kevin Smith.

Tusk follows Wallace Bryton (Justin Long), the host of successful podcast NotSeeParty.com,which specializes in poking fun at all the weird, strange and sometimes painfully humorous mishaps of people around the net. In an effort to interview The Kill Bill Kid – a boy who cut off his own leg trying to imitate the skillful use of the katana in the Kill Bill films. Wallace travels to Canada, only to discover that the Kill Bill Kid has recently passed away. Reluctant to go home empty handed, Wallace responds to an ad he read in the mens restroom of a rundown bar. He then meets Howard Howl (Michael Parks), who promises to recite to him his historical and adventurous sea stories. Although, not all is what it seems. Howard holds Wallace captive and plans to turn him into what he perceives as the worlds most beautiful creature, The Walrus. After hearing no word from Wallace, his best friend Teddy Craft (Haley Joel Osment) and girlfriend Ally Leon (Genesis Rodriguez) team up with an ex-cop named Guy Lapointe (Johnny Depp) to investigate his disappearance.


The film continues on and follows this exact plot. It is bizarre, hilarious, and admittedly a bit disturbing. But, it works. This is one of those projects that is self-aware of what it is and its ability to poke fun at itself in a positive manner makes it that much better. The self deprecating humor is full of wit, charm and all around hilarity. Above all, the film was fun and completely entertaining. What more could you want?

Many may go into this film and think to themselves, “Why am I watching this.” The film wasn't perfect. With that said I still can say with confidence that it wasn't bad either. In fact, I enjoyed most of it. The humor of the film is carried throughout. If you follow Kevin Smiths work at all, much of the humor is what you would expect. Since the film takes place in Canada you will hear all jokes referring to the Canadian accent, their way of life and Canada as a whole. Yes, it is funny, but definitely not new. You can also expect the raunchy, yet brilliant humor of Kevin Smith. Like I said this humor isn't anything new, but it all ties together to make a successful film.

As fan of horror, one thing I was originally worried about was how were they going to take this absurd plot and make it horror. Without getting into too much detail, I will say that it wasn't “scary” but was instead kind of disturbing. Both visually and artistically. The general idea is a bit silly and will force more laughs than shrieks. Yet as I watched the film I found myself cringing at some of the images that were on screen. To the point where I had to look away for a few seconds. Even tough humor was its high point it still embodied the feeling and tone of a horror film. It combined the ideas of films like Misery, The Human Centipede, Frankenstein and fused them with humor of Kevin Smith. This all brought together a film that was the perfect blend of comedy and horror.


As I said earlier the film wasn't perfect. One of the biggest flaw was the extensive dialogue, which is used in most of his films, and scenes that tended to drag on. These scenes would tell a joke and continue to further explain them after the punchline was delivered. I know that the idea of Tusk was originally from a SModcast episode, but it felt that they didn't really try all that hard to adapt it into a film. It honestly felt as if I were sitting and watching a live podcast. Which does make sense. Especially for Kevin Smith, whose fame has derived from podcasting. But if they dug a little bit deeper and aimed to make the film a  bit more engaging. It could have been a much more successful film. Instead we were given a film that felt too long.

Overall, Tusk was nothing short of a fun time. It is exactly what you would expect and there is some beauty in that. It seems as if it were a passion project to just have fun with and fun is what you get. I can't say that this is one of Smith's best films, but I can say if you can go into the theater prepared to watch a movie about a man that gets turned into a walrus. There isn't a single reason you wouldn't enjoy it.

3/5 Tonies

Written by Anthony Centeno