Three chances. Haven director Frank E. Flowers had three solid opportunities to make his Cayman Islands-set crime drama interesting. In Haven, the Cayman-born director tells three intertwined stories that expose a less attractive side of paradise.
The first plotline tells the typical story of a love affair between the son of a fisherman, Shy (Orlando Bloom), and a rich girl, Andrea (Zoe Saldana). It’s the same old tale of forbidden love across class lines, as the two attempt to stay together while every force possible tries to tear them apart. Shakespeare told this story successfully, so Flowers can too, right? Wrong. Flowers’ almost obsessive focus on frenetic camera movements comes at the expense of realistic dialogue and character interaction: Shy and Andrea seem to converse exclusively in pet names for each other, like “baby” and “honey.” Gag.
Taking a break from the lovers, the second plot includes shady American businessman Carl Ridley (Bill Paxton) who flees to the island with his daughter in tow. The story of a father who messes up and a daughter who rebels by falling for a bad boy whose life resembles an awful music video, Kangol hats and velour suits included.
Haven’s third story involves scheming banker Allen (Stephen Dillane), Carl’s money manager. These scenes, unlike the others, have a saving grace: Paxton and Dillane can actually act. Unfortunately, the scripting is so poor their talent easily goes unnoticed.
It takes a good while for Haven to begin to make sense, but by the time the three jumbled stories do connect, it is difficult to care. Flowers had the opportunity to use his firsthand experience with the less-than-glamorous lives of the Cayman locals to create an intensely realistic drama. Instead, the first-time feature director gets caught up in his visuals–his time lapses and epileptic cuts–like many film school grads do (Flowers attended the University of Southern California’s film school) and made a very pretty, utterly predictable, disappointment of a film. Three chances, three misses.