by Kevin Lang

Out of the five films that I had been interested in seeing this past weekend, "Monsters.Inc," "K-PAX," "Domestic Disturbance," "Iron Monkey," and "The One," "K-PAX" was at the top of my list. I was hooked after seeing the trailer, which left me wondering, "Is Kevin Spacey’s character really an alien?" Obviously, the main purpose of the trailer was to implant this lingering question in our minds, and to the studio’s credit it did. I wanted "K-PAX" to surprise me. Alien or not, I didn’t care what the outcome was going to be as long as the film clearly chose one or the other.

Kevin Spacey stars as Prot, a strange human looking being who claims that he came from the planet K-PAX. When being questioned by police officers, he told them that he was from the planet K-PAX. This eventually leads to his arrest. This scene seemed rather easy. It might have been more believable if the film was set anywhere else but New York City, a place where a lot of people probably claim that they came from other planets. Prot was subsequently taken to a psychiatric clinic where he became a patient of Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges). Dr. Powell took an interest in Prot, and he found it hard to rationalize the believability of Prot’s strange story.

In order to help convince everyone, including himself, Dr. Powell set up a test with his friend, who happened to be an astronomer. This "Good Will Hunting" like scene was pleasing both visually; and in relation to the development of the plot, as Prot attempted to solve a complex calculation before a group of interested scholars. This scene, along with several others, helps to convince the audience of Prot’s origin. Prot was fascinated how human beings took for granted what they had, such as our capacity for love, not to mention our produce. And thus, with the mounting evidence, we are taken back to the question from the trailer. Is Prot human or alien? All signs pointed up.

Kevin Spacey is an excellent actor, as he has proven in the past, but his versatility seems to be limited to only certain roles. Spacey plays the sharp witted, seemingly innocent, cocky, smart mouthed character very well; and any one of those adjectives could describe the majority of the characters that he has played. His attitude was very similar in each role. Whether it be "American Beauty," "Swimming With Sharks," "Seven," "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," or even "The Usual Suspects," his character in any one of those films resembled his character in the others, and they were all brilliantly played. As an actor, this is his realm, and in it he reigns supreme.

With his two most recent films, "Pay it Forward," and his current release, "K-PAX," he has stepped out of this realm and into one with which he is not as familiar. He seems to be attempting to cross into Hankdom, playing the ever innocent, truth set him free, good guy. Tom Hanks is another excellent actor who has found his niche, and for the most part, has yet to venture far from it. Spacey’s performances in "Pay it Forward" and "K-PAX" were still good, but at times he seemed out of place in the character. In "Pay it Forward" and "K-PAX" we saw the character that he was playing, but at times we also saw the evidence of an actor. With his previous films we only saw the character. In my opinion this is what makes a good performance a great performance, and in "K-PAX," this was not present.

With all signs pointing skyward, Jeff Bridges’ character of Dr. Powell began to suspect the opposite. Evidence began to mount suggesting that Prot was not an alien. We go on a road of discovery with Dr. Powell as he travels, and eventually uncovers what had to be Prot’s real identity. It was an emotional journey, and Bridges acted the part well. When Dr. Powell returned, Prot still maintained that he was from K-PAX. Dr. Powell knew the real truth, or did he? This is where the movie seemed to be scared to define itself in concrete terms.

The last quarter of the film created more questions and discrepancies involving the character of Prot. My one hope for the film had not been fulfilled. In an attempt to make "K-PAX" more interesting, the filmmakers tried to marry the best of both realities. This created holes and inconsistencies in the plot, that instead of being fascinatingly ambiguous, were ultimately confusing and unexplainably misleading. The evidence was not there to entirely support the film’s plot. After coming to my own conclusions about "K-PAX," which were based on certain unsupported assumptions, I could do nothing but let the film drift away into its own sea of ambiguity, not caring much to ponder it any further.