Before ‘The Watchers,’ Dakota Fanning’s Most Underrated Role Was This Grim Thriller

The transition from being a child star to being an adult actor is often a challenging one. While child actors are under a lot of pressure to fulfill specific roles when they are at the right age, it can be challenging for them to reinvent their image when attempting to take on more mature roles. Dakota Fanning became a breakout child performer with her award-winning role in I Am Sam and emotional performance in Steven Spielberg’s remake of War of the Worlds, but it was evident that she had ambitions to take on mature material. Fanning got the opportunity to prove her dramatic abilities in the Kelly Reichardt-directed thriller Night Moves.

Fanning had certainly worked with her fair share of accomplished directors, but working with an underrated auteur like Reichardt created a different set of challenges. Reichardt’s films tend to emphasize hyper-realistic character interactions and don’t conform to traditional narrative structures, making it difficult for her stars to be anything but authentic. Additionally, Night Moves is easily Reichardt’s most politically loaded film, as it tackles serious issues about environmentalism and activist culture. It’s a role that would’ve been difficult, even for a performer with a much more extensive resume, but Fanning’s emotional performance in Night Moves signified her as one of the most underutilized talents of her generation.

Night Moves

Three radical environmentalists look to execute the protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam.

Release Date

April 23, 2014

Runtime

112 mins

Main Genre

Drama

Studio

Cinedigm

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What Is ‘Night Moves’ About?

A psychological thriller loosely inspired by the conspiracy movies of the 1970s, Night Moves centers on three environmental activists who plan to blow up a dam in order to raise awareness about the effects on the local biodiversity. While neither Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) or Dena (Fanning) has any experience working with explosive devices, their cohort Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) is an ex-Marine who has seen his fair share of violence. The group’s intention is to create a public spectacle that will be impossible for the local business owners to ignore. Unfortunately, the demonstration goes disastrously awry, and a man working near the dam is killed. Josh, Dena, and Harmon are forced to live with their guilt as the local police begin digging into the situation.

Fanning does a great job at showing Dena’s initial naïveté, which makes her vulnerable to erratic activity. Dena sees the issue of environmental protection as black-and-white, and expresses anger at those that would seek to line their own profits through willful pollution. While her passion is admirable, it becomes evident that Dena has not totally thought out the plan to its logical conclusion. The look of shock and horror on her face when she realizes the collateral damage of the bomb is one of the film’s most heartbreaking moments. Dena recognizes that the tragedy is a result of her ignorance. Fanning beautifully details the collapse of Dena’s mental health as the situation gets more intense.

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Reichardt’s screenplays are often quite complex, and Night Moves is keen to show the plurality of perspectives when it comes to the three main characters. Fanning does a great job at playing the purest and most heroic character of the film. While Harmon accepts the consequences and believes that the worker’s sacrifice was necessary for the greater good, Dena can’t let go of the feeling that she has become the very evil they were seeking to destroy. The film is at its most compelling moments of the movie when the viewers are put in fear for Dena’s safety, as a guilty conscience becomes a threat to Josh and Harmon.

Dakota Fanning Explores Guilt and Trauma in ‘Night Moves’

Many of Reichardt’s early films like Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy were praised for exploring the beauty of mundanity in everyday life. Comparatively, Night Moves uses this very realistic approach to show how difficult it can be to live with feelings of guilt. Fanning shows how Dena’s anxieties eat away at her as the investigation continues. While Josh tries to distance himself from his actions by locking the events from his mind, Dena is unable to erase the news report from her head. While not a psychological thriller in the traditional sense, Night Moves creates suspense in questioning when Dena will reach her breaking point.

Fanning was able to convey Dena’s emotional state in subtle ways, as much of the film is dialogue-free. Although there is time taken to plan the heist, Dena begins to disassociate from her former allies as they all contend with the ramifications of their actions. In these instances, Fanning’s silence speaks more to her mindset than anything else; it’s clear that Dena is in a state of shock that she might not fully recover from.

‘Night Moves’ Was a Transitional Film in Fanning’s Career

While it wasn’t a significant commercial success or award season contender, Night Moves showed that Fanning could drop her inherent charisma to play more nuanced roles. Since Night Moves, Fanning has appeared in Brimstone, Please Stand By, and the gritty action-packed The Equalizer 3 where she reunited with her Man on Fire costar, Denzel Washington, to name a few. She also has not shied away from smaller roles in ensemble movies like the heist thriller Ocean’s 8 and Quentin Tarantino’s Hollywood “love letter” Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. While neither role granted her significant screen time, Fanning was able to create charismatic characters with magnetic screen presence.

Night Moves also indicated that Fanning could play ethically ambiguous protagonists, and would not be stuck playing heroes for the rest of her career. Her standout role as Marge Sherwood in Steven Zallian’s acclaimed Netflix series Ripley shows how radically her career has changed in the decade since Night Moves was initially released.

Night Moves is streaming on Prime Video in the U.S.

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