Malice in ‘Wonderland’

If you’re looking for an uplifting, inspirational film this weekend, “Wonderland” isn’t it. If a film about a washed up, drugged out porn star’s involvement in a savage revenge killing is more to your taste, then “Wonderland” should be your cup of tea.

“Wonderland” chronicles an ugly episode in the already sordid life of 70’s porn star John Holmes (Val Kilmer). Once the king of hardcore films, by the early 1980’s Holmes’ cocaine addiction finally sabotaged him professionally and financially. Broke and perpetually strung out, Holmes is mostly adrift, save for his teenage girlfriend, Dawn (Kate Bosworth) and his estranged wife, Sharon (Lisa Kudrow). Reduced to being an errand boy for assorted figures in the drug underworld of Los Angeles, Holmes ingratiates himself with a group of small time drug dealers and their girlfriends at a party house on Wonderland Avenue in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon. His connections with prominent L.A. nightclub owner Eddie Nash (Eric Bogosian) set the Wonderland crew on a scheme to rob Nash of his ample stash of drugs, cash, jewelry and guns. The end result, in retaliation for the robbery, is the vicious bludgeoning deaths of four people at the Wonderland house.

The story takes on modern film noir proportions as it evolves into a series of hypotheticals examining the scenarios that led up to the Wonderland slaughter. Told from the perspectives of those peripheral to the crimes, the film attempts to establish the degree to which Holmes was actually involved in both the robbery and the murders — was he just a drug-addled bystander or was there more to his role in the crimes?

As an exploration of the depths of depravity, “Wonderland” inflicts a compelling narrative. The problem for the audience is finding empathy for any of the characters that populate this perverse landscape. Kilmer plays the ill-fated Holmes as a pathetic little boy lost, so conflicted about his place in the world that he’s ultimately devoured by his ego and his addiction. Only Bosworth and Kudrow paint sympathetic performances as they struggle to love Holmes while helplessly standing by as he spirals out of control. Credit should be given to the remaining all-star cast, which includes Dylan McDermott, Josh Lucas, Tim Blake Nelson, Christina Applegate, Natasha Gregson Wagner and Janeane Garafolo, for making these unpleasant people watchable.

Director James Cox infuses this moral morass with a rapid-fire MTV visual technique that reflects a grim, desperate world fueled by drugs and violence. Cox makes fitting use of 1970s rock songs like Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold,” Bad Company’s “Shooting Star,” and Roxy Music’s “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” to drive the story home.

Supremely disturbing — and unbelievably depressing — “Wonderland” should no doubt put Val Kilmer back on the map as a “serious” actor. Not since his role as Jim Morrison in “The Doors” has Kilmer taken off with a character as he does with the burned out Holmes. It’s the kind of performance that’s likely to draw Oscar buzz.