Mojave (15)

HE is an acclaimed screenwriter behind the likes of The Departed and Kingdom of Heaven.

But William Monahan should probably go back to what he knows best after his second failed stint in the director's chair.

Mojave is another flop for the filmmaker after 2010's London Boulevard.

The film sees Garrett Hedlund play Tom. All we know is that Tom is successful and famous – he tells us as much – but beyond that he and the people in his life are barely characterised.

Tom has achieved everything he has dreamed of (he tells us this too) and finds himself unsatisfied and searching for meaning in his life so he goes off to find himself in the desert.

Then he meets a drifter called Jack (The Force Awakens' Oscar Isaac) who hates the government, thinks of himself as the Devil and says that he kills lone travellers.

Is Jack a murderer or is it a twisted mind game?

That lingering doubt is one of the more interesting elements of the film and it sets off a chain of events.

But you never really invest in the characters because the premise of how these men got to this point feels so weak.

The way Mojave is directed is fine but some of the editing is also really poor – some of the scenes jump about and do not really fit together.

In the end it turns into a jarring blend of western, thriller and statement about hollow Hollywood life.

And it is a shame because it has a great cast whose talents are largely wasted.

Isaac's performance is solid but unremarkable – breaking his chain of appearing in top films like Inside Llewyn Davis, A Most Violent Year, Ex Machina and The Force Awakens.

Hedlund, who last appeared on screen with Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis, seems to have based his performance on the Sons of Anarchy boxset.

Mark Wahlberg must have been given the wrong brief as he appears to think he was making a comedy and the excellent Walton Goggins is wasted in a bit part. Avoid.

RATING: 5/10

Inside Llewyn Davis