Büntető ököl

A nyersesség új definíciója a filmművészet területén, amely befolyásolja és megváltoztatja a popkultúra trendjeit. A szuperhősök világának alternatív felfogása egy alfa bosszúállóval az akarata ellenére, egyre fokozódó erőszakkal, miközben a kortárs börtönkörnyezet szinte szürrealisztikus ábrázolásába fejlődik. A társadalmi eltompultság még mindig érezhető ebben (utalok a Csontok és skalpok filmre), de ezúttal az egyenes brutalitás mögött jó szándék húzódik meg. Védelmi jellegű. Mint a poétikus Drive- gázt! legsötétebb oldala, megtízszerezve, és két órán át egy egyre mélyebb pokol felé haladva. Vaughn életszerepe, amiért pokolian sokat köszönhet Zahlernek. De minimalista, nem Oscar-díjas jelölt. Ott a legvalószínűbb jelölt a feltámadt, ínyenc módon kiálló Don Johnson. A finálé ugyanolyan eufóriát idézte fel bennem az eddig nem látottakból, mint egykoron a Ponyvaregény. Tarantino-rajongóknak és az alvilág és a bűnözés eredeti vízióinak híveinek legalábbis az év filmje. [Sitges FF] (2017.10.11)

A huge surprise for me personally. The director S. Craig Zahler has already proven to me with the movie Bone Tomahawk this year that he has some potential, but I really had no idea that Vince Vaughn would convince me after his bad performance in True Detective. A very decent revenge film, which takes place in numerous locations, but even though we see the prison most of the time, you can’t say it is a prison drama. On the contrary. Imagine a simple PC game with a clear target in the beginning and you go through the first, second, third, fourth level… to finally get to the final boss. This film is that simple. Simple, but harsh, uncompromising and mainly the quality is really good. You will realize that in the fighting scenes. And you will also realize that Vince has a gift which he has never shown in all of his comedies so far. Why? That’s a good question. Now I hope that he will have a chance to film better and more interesting films than those he’s done so far. (2017.12.21)

Arty grind-house that crushes skulls with its slow pace and human cruiser Vince Vaughn. Extremely precisely constructed tension and the director's brilliantly managed jump from a realistic introduction to a consistently B-movie finale in the environment of a cellar hell for invited psychopaths. Feat. Great cameos for frog eyes Udo Kier and the verbal frost of Frank Melamed. This is a portrait of a world that knows no mercy, with razor contours. Bradley Thomas is the hardest and coldest fucking bastard on the suffering market. North of OK, south of cancer. In my ideal world, people like S. Craig Zahler would win directing awards at big festivals. Because, for God's sake, this is an INNOVATIVE kick in the nuts, a director’s masterclass, whilst also being a genre film that had me invested since the first second. (2017.11.13)

A unique film without compromises which I don’t know what other movie I can compare it with in terms of atmosphere, impression or feeling – something that doesn’t happen very often in modern filmmaking. The main character looks like a “Trumpist redneck”, but the joke here is that if you are expecting him to behave based on the prejudice about his appearance, he will surprise you with how much more there is to him. The second joke is that you will still get some violence delivered by, but to such extent and so weirdly executed that it has an almost transcendental effect. It basically doesn’t look like a film. The whole movie has a fairly ugly cinematography (digital colours, unpleasant and unusual angles), the fighting scenes are almost uncut and frequently shot in unnaturally large set pieces, and the gore also looks differently than in other films. Like, I’ve never seen a tramped skull, but the fact that here it looks different than in a million other films gave me impression that I’m maybe seeing it for the first time ever. Rather than a film, Brawl in Cell Block 99 reminded me of a very realistic dream that gradually turns into a nightmare into which you plunge deeper and deeper. In any case, one of the films of the year. (2017.10.14)

Zahler really is great at writing both screenplays and books. That's why it's unexpectedly strange that this time he's writing betrays him. While the first half (and especially the prologue) is slow but not too slow time to support the motivations and to trigger the rage thriving inside Bradley "Hulk" Thomas, the second will ruin everything as soon as the system is entered. The characters in it are flat and almost unintentionally ridiculous. There is lack of action (which is not wrong), but it´s sloppy slow (which is wrong), the plot is completely absent, the locations of prisons are convincing, probably in the same was as promises during the election campaign. Instead of a straightforward strike (benefiting from Bradley's consistently constructed motivation), the movie starts to rely on absurd slowness. However, not in terms of style, which would build the tension of silence before the storm or pay attention to the characters, but superfluous, because it should have ended by tens of minutes earlier in the editing room. And the more is Vaughn being respectful in his initial civilian "d'Onofrio's" position, the less he fits in the subsequent jailbird position of a puncher acting in appaling style of Michael "Bronson" Peterson. Just another average grindhouse that takes advantage of the fact that there has not been any serious one in a long time. (2017.10.15)