Skins

Director Chris Eyre's debut film, 1998's "Smoke Signals," was done so beautifully that you just had to expect similarly terrific things from whatever might follow it.

Unfortunately, Eyre's sophomore effort, "Skins," is at least as heavy-handed as "Smoke Signals" was subtle. Worse, it lacks the compassion, good-natured humor and the level of insight that made his first film something of a sleeper success.

Which isn't to say that "Skins" doesn't have some compelling moments or that it lacks the potential for greatness. But it's as if Eyre didn't know how to express all the ideas he had; he might have bitten off more than he could chew.

Some of that may be attributed to the fact that this time Eyre wasn't working with author Sherman Alexie, who adapted some of his short stories for the first film. Instead, "Skins" is taken from Adrian C. Louis' novel about two Oglala Sioux brothers, Rudy Yellow Lodge (Eric Schweig) and Mogie (veteran character actor Graham Greene).

Since a family tragedy, the two have gone in very different directions: The once-shy Rudy is now a successful police officer on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. And as such, he is disgusted with the sight of his fellow Siouxs drinking themselves to death.

That includes Mogie, who has been scarred by his Vietnam War experiences and who is struggling to take care of his teenage son, Herbie (Noah Watts).

Consequently, Rudy now finds himself playing surrogate father to his nephew, and by night, he begins acting as a vigilante, dispensing "justice" — such as pummeling two murder suspects and torching a convenience store he blames for the rampant alcohol problem.

Unfortunately, one of those acts has dire consequences, and Rudy must suddenly come to terms with his brother and his own feelings of guilt.

There are some good ideas here. But everything is played with such a straight face — excepting a couple of half-hearted attempts at levity — that it becomes depressing, and even a bit laughable.

In particular, the vigilante subplot is so ludicrous that even Schweig looks embarrassed by it. And although the on-screen relationship between Schweig and Greene is believable, this isn't the best work of either actor.

"Skins" is rated R for occasional use of strong sex-related profanity, violence (a scuffle, gunplay and vigilante violence), gore and scattered use of crude sexual slang terms and racial epithets. Running time: 87 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com