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Brawl in Cell Block 99 – 2017 Zahler
- It’s the story of a moral man—who is both highly principled and highly violent (great form of him smashing up a car when he finds out his wife is cheating and he’s been fire don same day)
- He’s basically getting shit on and forced into extremely difficult circumstances- close to a living hell- it actually reminded me a bit of the character arc of breaking bad season 1
- He says “Howdy” repeatedly and doesn’t like to be called Brad but “Bradley”
- The pacing is deliverable and procedural (checking in and out of prison is going to test some viewers)—Zahler does like to hear himself talk a little like Tarantino but he’s a gifted writer so it’s not a bad thing
- Harkens to some 70’s action and exploitation films but it’s really a unique take—Zahler isn’t perfect, there are flaws, and it’s no great achievement (won’t end up in my top 20 or so of 2017) but S. Craig Zahler has a voice. He’s an auteur
- Brutally violent and masculine— but believable physicality on display from the towering Vince Vaughn (who is as good here as he is in Wedding Crashers and Swingers). Zahler’s bone crunching noise is a trademark (along with genre revisionism and combining them (this is a drug movie, prison film and horror film) just like Bone Tomahawk was a western and horror) just like QT has picked up and used the exaggerated spraying of blood
- Good supporting turns by Udo Kier and Don Johnson
- Satisfying climax
- Major problem with his motivation in a key scene (drug bust). I just don’t believe someone this dedicated to his wife and daughter would jeopardize all that to save a cop or get even with someone who had crossed him
- Don’t understand the weird R & B music at all—takes you out of the film with this giant 6’5 blue collar guy with a shaved head and cross tattoo on the back of it
- Recommend/ Highly Recommend border
Drake2022-02-22T22:27:27+00:00
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Really good review. Disagree on the score. Thought it was perfect for the mood and appropriately “off kilter” as this character seems to be. Vaughn is excellent, revelatory as is Don Johnson who, in the last 10 yeArs become one of our best character actors. I do see Vaughn taking down the bad guys despite his wife. It defines him as a character.
@Kent– thanks again for the comment. I guess I’d just need to hear what it was that put it in the top 10 of 2017. The visuals? editing? performances? Screenplay? It’s at least worth pinning down where we disagree. I prefer Bone Tomahawk. Have you seen that? To be clear I thought both were excellent and don’t mean to insult Brawl in Cell Block 99– i just think higher of 10+ other films from 2017 and think I can show they’re superior with the explanations of them on the various pages on the site from “Dunkirk” to “Call Me By Your Name” to “Columbus” (god I love that film) to “Good Time”. Thanks again for the food for thought here.
I just realized, that the both of us, are basically John Cusack from High Fidelity. Haaa! Ranking is fun isn’t it? Cheer question about bone tomahawk yes I’ve seen it and yes I think it’s really really good. I’m glad you hold Vince Vaughn in high regard for his performance in wedding Crashers truly great there
@Kent– haha love that with High Fidelity. I feel bad for those that don’t have a passion like you and I do for cinema/movies