BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 (2017)
Directed by : S. Craig Zahler
Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a lot of dumb fun, which is why it's a shame that it decides that, like it or not, it's going to be offensive at various moments throughout. It did go on to prove though, that I don't necessarily have to like any characters for me to enjoy a wacky film like this. Vince Vaughn plays Bradley Thomas who, due to the economic times, decides that smuggling meth into the United States is the only way he and wife Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter) can afford nice things. Cue a ridiculous metaphor involving jars of cream, milk and milk substitute. Bradley beats up his wife's car instead of his wife when she cheats on him so that's perfectly okay (?) but I don't like Bradley, at all - too bad then, because he's our "morally complex" hero in this film. He goes to prison for meth-related reasons, but he does so in a heroic manner, saving the cops from a couple of the real villains and monsters in Cell Block 99's universe - Mexicans. Mexicans won't be the only ones our meth dealer hero has to contend with - he also has the face the likes of evil abortionists and an unfair justice system. So okay, I now know which audience will fully embrace Brawl in Cell Block 99 as an instant classic. Funny thing is, apart from constantly making me frown it also made me smile, because this is a very entertaining, fun, gory and violent movie.
Once Bradley Thomas gets to the titular "Cell Block 99" all restraints are let loose and this becomes one of the craziest prison films I've ever seen. This cell block is the worst cell block, which happens to be in the worst prison you could ever imagine anywhere. We've seen him graduate from a comparatively nice one, on and on, because of a plot contrivance introduced to the film via none other than Udo Kier - and I love Udo Kier, so the film was scoring points with me despite my feelings against it. Thomas has to make his way through prison guards, prisoners, and - worst of the worst - Mexicans - until he faces up against Warden Tuggs (Don Johnson), and treatment that would make members of the SS and Gestapo blush. This institution - Redleaf - has a literal torture chamber in it! The cells actually look like they belong in the Middle Ages, and wouldn't be out of place if this film was set in a castle's dungeons during a break in the Crusades. Everything ratchets up, and that includes the violence - which up until now has been bone-breakingly severe and rough as it is. During the climax of Brawl in Cell Block 99 the gore reaches "over the top" levels, and it stands to reason - everything else has also. I found myself having fun during the film's closing stretch, so I can see why it's popular.
Vince Vaughn plays Bradley Thomas in a very straight manner - aloof, serious, protective, principled, adept at just about anything - but especially mechanics, fighting and smuggling drugs. He cracks the odd sly joke, but his demeanor never deviates from a determined kind of seriousness. He's straightforward. He loves his wife, and he loves his country. He shows his emotion by breaking things. Where many people might cry, his method is destruction. He doesn't flinch when he's pistol-whipped in the face. Look - this film is dumb in many departments. It seems to think that the worst thing about meth is "meth mouth", and that a 7-year sentence for smuggling the destructive narcotic is unfair (our flawed hero is promised 5.) But Redleaf - from it's theatrical warden to it's torture devices (belts that deliver electric shocks) and cells with toilets overflowing with faeces - unleashes so much madness that all of the subtle misogyny, racism, lack of moral compass and extremism melts into a goo so remarkable that you can't help but point at it and go "look at that! It's horrible but also somehow beautiful." The villains are so evil that you want them to be mangled by the guy who is a little less evil than they are. The prison is so ridiculous you no longer take anything about this film seriously. Thank goodness, because some of this film is seriously messed up. I disliked a lot of things about this movie, but I'd definitely watch it again - despite the fact that it'd often annoy and bother me, I can look past that when something is this entertaining.
Glad to catch this one - it was named as one of the year's best films by publications such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The A.V. Club.
Watchlist Count : 430 (-20)
Next : The American Friend (1977)
Next : The American Friend (1977)
Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Brawl in Cell Block 99
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