Review #1,380: 'Brawl in Cell Block 99' (2017)

For his debut film, 2015's Bone Tomahawk, writer, director and composer S. Craig Zahler delivered one of the most unforgettable films of the year. As it begins, Bone Tomahawk seems to be a familiar men-on-a-rescue-mission movie set in the Old West, with four vastly different personalities set up to clash on the way. If you've seen it, you'll know that the western tropes soon give way to something all the more horrifying and tense, before descending into a horrific gore-fest at the climax. It was one of the best films of 2015, and Zahler once again rummages around in the genre sack for his follow-up, Brawl in Cell Block 99, another unpredictable and incredibly violent genre-bender that seems to take much of its inspiration from the grindhouse films of the 1970s, both visually and tonally. It also features a career-best performance from a monstrous Vince Vaughn.

Bradley (Vaughn) is an ex-con and former drug addict earning an honest living at an auto-repair shop. When the state of the American economy ensures that his services are no longer required, the imposing giant returns home to the revelation that his wife Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter) has been having an affair for the past 3 months. Bradley deals with the situation calmly, informing his wife that he is to return to his drug-dealing roots to earn the cash required for a fresh start, but not before tearing her car apart with his bare hands. Fast forward 18 months later, and Bradley is still peddling drugs, getting involved with a Mexican gang and a couple of their idiot enforcers. When a deal goes horribly wrong, Bradley is sent to the slammer to serve a hefty 7 year sentence, but the cartel aren't quite done with him. In order to repay his debt for the lost property, he must carry out a hit under the orders of Euro-sleaze 'the Placid Man' (who else but Udo Kier?), otherwise a surgeon will remove the limbs of his unborn child and ensure that it lives on to be deformed. With his target in Cell Block 99, a maximum security prison ran by the sadistic Warden Tuggs (Don Johnson), Bradley must brutalise his way through the system until he is close enough to carry out the hit.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 begins as a slow-paced crime drama, establishing Bradley as a wall of strength when taking care of business, before moving on into wince-inducing, bone-cracking, head-stomping B-movie territory. It maintains an atmosphere of tension throughout, with each scene carrying a sense of dread and an expectancy that violence could erupt at any second. At the centre of it all is Vaughn, who laces the character with a dry wit and a simmering rage. He has no desire to hurt people without reason, so often turns his rage elsewhere. His first few minutes within a jail cell is spent looking for something, anything, to smash. But hurting people is what he does best, and he thumps, stomps and breaks his way through anyone foolish enough to stand between him and his quest to save his family. In many ways, the explosions of violence and gore mirror the second half of Bone Tomahawk, and while we may not understand why, it feels utterly exhilarating while we watch on between our fingers. It seems to have flown under many people's radar, somewhat unfairly, but cult adoration will surely come. It further cements Zahler's reputation as a filmmaker to keep an eye on, and while his second feature could certainly do with a 15 minute trim, Brawl in Cell Block 99 explores the nature of rage with ferocious and unflinching execution.


Directed by: S. Craig Zahler
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Don Johnson, Udo Kier, Marc Blucas
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #806: 'Cold in July' (2014)

Cold in July is a film all about mood. Continuing the recent trend of all things 80's, the film harks back to the splurge of American neo-noir popular in the late 80's and early 1990's, where, usually, a simple man is caught up in crime, corruption or a dangerous woman (or all three) and ends up way out of his depth. Usually set in America's Southern states, these films explored what it is to be a man. Based on author John R. Lansdale's novel, Cold in July delves into similar themes, but often gets so caught up in drenching the film in atmosphere that it loses track of it's own story.

It starts out relatively simply as Michael C. Hall's protective father Richard wakes up in the middle of the night as an intruder breaks into his home. Shaky and nervous, Richard shoots the young man dead and is congratulated by detective Ray (co-writer Nick Damici), who reassures him that sometimes the good guy wins. At the intruder's funeral, Richard is approached by the father Russel (Sam Shepard), fresh out of prison, who makes a passive threat to Richard's wife and child. Russel begins a tirade of threats and intimidation, eventually being arrested and left for dead by the police on a train track. Puzzled at the cops' eagerness to be rid of Russel, Richard saves him and delves deeper into the case, and the two find out they have more in common than initially thought.

Darkly photographed and set to a synthesised score, Cold in July certainly looks and feels like the movies and era it's paying homage to. We glimpse chunky early mobile phones, Michael C. Hall sports an unflattering mullet-and-moustache combo, and 80's favourite Don Johnson - enjoying a career revival of late - shows up as private investigator Jim Bob to grant the film some much needed energy and humour. While director Jim Mickle, who made the excellent and surprisingly brutal Stake Land (2010), is clearly enjoying tipping his hat to the era, plot strands fizzle out to the point where they are forgotten entirely and the camera is consistently restless. He has the actors and the story to tell, so simply point the camera and let things naturally fall into place.

But when it's good, it's absolutely riveting. Shepard is a terrorising yet stoic presence, and Hall shows that there is more to him than David Fisher and Dexter, proving a solid leading man despite an uncomplimentary appearance. The film is drenched in sleaze, and it's Texas setting is a bleak and beautiful place for a simple man to find his inner animal. But the film ultimately feels like it's going nowhere fast. The genre hardly calls for it so character development is virtually non-existent, but the plot leads to vastly different places so fast you'll wonder how you got there. I was constantly caught up in what I was watching, but by the end credits I was left hanging for a satisfaction that would never come.


Directed by: Jim Mickle
Starring: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don Johnson, Wyatt Russell, Nick Damici
Country: USA/France

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie