Movie Reviews : No Rescue For New Stranded ‘Crusoe’

With the handsome, well-meaning “Crusoe” (citywide) director Caleb Deschenal and writer Walon Green attempt to rework the Daniel Defoe tale into a parable on the evil folly of racism. Unfortunately, the undertaking is far too obvious and contrived to generate much impact.

Deschanel and Green have moved up the story nearly a century, setting it in Virginia in 1808. In his greed, the slave trader Crusoe (Aidan Quinn) has launched a risky late season voyage to Africa to capture more natives. Anyone with the slightest acquaintance with the Defoe classic can tell you that this Crusoe will end up shipwrecked on a remote island--yet it takes the film 25 minutes to get us there. Worse, it takes a full hour into what is only a 93-minute movie for anything significant to happen, by which time it scarcely matters.

Meanwhile, we’re stuck in this gorgeous tropical paradise with the least sympathetic of men. It’s no fault of the personable, capable Quinn, but rather the simple and damning fact that his Crusoe has been shown to be a thoroughly callous dealer in human beings. Why should we care whether he prevails in his solitary struggle for survival? Only a confirmed white supremacist could get worked up over his lonely predicament. (Throughout this long stretch Crusoe never seems to reflect on how he has brought about his own fate.)

The film makers need to get to the heart of the matter more quickly, especially when what’s in the offing is so predictable anyway. It’s hardly difficult to guess that eventually Crusoe will meet his match (and then some) in a black man (Ade Sapara, a young British actor of imposing presence) who will finally raise his consciousness. Regrettably, the considerable craftsmanship that has gone in the filming of “Crusoe” (rated PG-13 for violence) only convinces you that it wasn’t worth making in the first place.