Theme Song: There’s an over-the-top synth-stab soundtrack running through the entirety of this movie. Someone trips on a stick in the forest?: Unrelenting synth-stabs until the person gets up.
Also, because this movie is about Vietnam veterans, they play “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence.
Interesting Dated References: Mentally unwell, PTSD-suffering adults abandoning their families because they know it’s for the better, as opposed to staying and making their families’ lives a living hell.
Social Context: Eighties movies were some of the first to tackle veterans living with PTSD. Distant Thunder does its best to treat the subject respectfully as a veteran slowly works to repair life with the family he abandoned. Unfortunately, the third act devolves into a different kind of eighties movie trope: revenge-based survival pursuit.
Summary: Mark Lambert (John Lithgow, using a gruff Sling Blade-esque affect) lives in the Pacific Northwest woods with other struggling ‘Nam vets Harvey (Reb Brown), Larry (Denis Arndt) and Louis.
After Louis walks in front of a train, Mark is inspired to contact his estranged son Jack (Ralph Macchio). Mark initiates contact via letter with the help of a social worker named Char, who also instantly falls in love with Mark while giving him a haircut.
This angers Char’s boyfriend and leads to Mark retreating into the woods just as Jack arrives in town for the reunion. Char takes Jack to see his dad at the encampment, and a very slow dialogue occurs between father and son.
But because this is the eighties, Char’s boyfriend arrives mad with rage, only to be killed by Harvey, who then decides to hunt and kill everyone at the encampment.
It’s a massive tonal shift that ruins the movie’s equity in the father/son reunion. I was so synthed-out by the end I didn’t even pay attention to the additional fifteen minutes of father/son reconciliation talk.
Worth Mentioning:
– Beautiful scenery of the PNW mountains/forests.
– Directed in an acceptable manner by Rick Rosenthal (Halloween II, Bad Boys)
Poster and Box Art: Dramatic poster showcases the father/son relationship, which is fine.
