Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) Review!!!

Synopsis – A former boxer-turned-drug runner lands in a prison battleground after a deal gets deadly.

My Take – I may get some hate for this, but I have never liked Vince Vaughn in anything! Be it his signature fast talking punch line humor or his neurotic, rotund teddy bear image he has garnered since he broke into the scene with Swingers (1996) and carried it through countless comedies, like Wedding Crashers (2005), Dodgeball (2004) & Old School (2003), but unlike comic actors in the industry, to me, he felt like an actor who would never rise over the script & make an extra mark. And despite recently shifting his gear towards more dramatic roles, after a baggage of flops, with films like Hacksaw Ridge & Term Life, along with the much hyped yet unsuccessful season 2 of True Detective, it seemed like no director could use Vince Vaughn in a role well versed for him, that is of course, until director S. Craig Zahler stepped in. In this long awaited sophomoric effort from the brilliant S. Craig Zahler, the director of the 2015 surprise hit Bone Tomahawk, he turns Vaughn into terrifying badass who can ruthlessly pummel anyone that gets in the way of his quest. In this film, easily one of the most violent films out this year, Vaughn sets aside his familiar persona from countless comedies, and finds renewed energy as a limb-bending, bone-crunching, bare-knuckle fighting convict that’s so menacing that even the back of his head is intimidating. And thankfully, despite its B-film title, this dark comic thriller is also gruesomely entertaining. Tailor-made for Tarantino fans with stone hard hearts and a strong stomach (the sound of each bone breaking is especially amplified), the film, wrapped in a soulful soundtrack, has the look and feel of a really well-made drive-in action flick from the ’70s. However, it’s not an all-out action film, as advertised; instead, it slowly builds a back-story for the setup as the lead is drawn deeper and deeper into the darkness and eventually finds himself in the middle of hell.

The story follows Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn), a former boxer whose life is in a bit of a downward spiral. After he is laid out from his job as a tow-truck driver, he comes home to find out that his wife Laura (Jennifer Carpenter) is in an extramarital affair, due to their strained relationship after her miscarriage. However, after talking it out the two decide to rebuild their marriage, with Bradley promising to take care of her no matter what the cost. A few months later, the two have moved into a nice house, their marriage is stronger than ever, and Laura is pregnant again while Bradley has gone back to running drugs for his old boss, the suburbanite dealer Gil (Marc Blucas). Everything seems perfect, until Gil partners up with the Mexican cartel for a deal which goes horribly wrong, resulting in Bradley being sentenced to seven years in prison. Stuck inside a minimum security prison, he’s visited by a representative of the cartel, a deliberately sinister old gentleman (Udo Kier) who informs Bradley that Laura and his unborn child will die if he does not get himself transferred to the Red Leaf maximum security prison, which is run by a nasty warden Warden Tuggs (Don Johnson) and kill an inmate in Cell Block 99. To save his family, Bradley must do everything, which includes causing mayhem wherever he goes. Here, director Zahler has manufactured a true guilty pleasure, a film about a man making bad choices that is driven by brilliant characterization, raw Adrenalin, and a compelling narrative that makes you watch no matter how much you know you should look away. The film takes a good long while to kick off but when it does, it turns into one of the fastest paced action thrillers I’ve seen in a long time. It is almost as if it is two different films. The first part of the film is a much grounded drama with crime elements within it. Then after Udo Kier‘s character leaves, it is like a storm erupts. This storm brings brutal violence, extreme gore and Vince Vaughn‘s impressive fighting skills and puts them on display for everyone to see in its uncensored glory. This film is amazing by every stretch of the imagination. It takes it’s time with the story and immerses us within this world that director Zahler carefully crafts with his script, production design and actors. We slowly become a part of this world which bodes well because I can’t imagine this world going over well with someone just dropped into it. There are not just delightful twists and turns, but delicious shifts in structure and escalations of tension. There is wonderful wit, sarcasm and humor to the taunts and trash talk. For example, one of the characters in prison laments “I wish I had a bigger cell.” Bradley replies, “You may want to aim a little higher with your wishes.” Given the title, the audience would be forgiven for assuming the cops would be called or some heinous escalation was about to ensue but director Zahler – two films into his career as a filmmaker – has already proved himself adept at confounding expectations. The fight scenes in particular were very well executed. Much unlike the usual physical big screen exchanges that go on forever because fatigue in films is much like that in video games, these are shorter, more decisive and less one sided. The brawls are hyper-brawls. There’s no art in the martial arts here, but the ultra-violence is stylized like a 1980s punch ’em up computer game. Sure, many will be turned off by the level of violence and the sadomasochistic viewing experience of the final act and that’s a shame, but for the rest of us director Zahler has written an A-Film screenplay full of nuance and wit with A-films actors and put it to the service of a B-Film plot and B-Film delights.

Bones are broken in graphic detail, faces are pummeled beyond recognition and skulls are repeatedly stomped into the floor, all of a sudden, the slow-burning drama of 132 minutes erupts into a sustained firestorm of ferociousness, with Vaughn emerging from ashes as a screen actor who might finally be worth watching again. Though it’s not always an easy watch there are moments where you may look away where Bradley will bend a man’s arm backwards so the bone sticks out, or he crushes a man’s skull and the bones fall out, he even decapitates a man using nothing but hole in the ground. Yet Zahler‘s directing keeps it thrilling and always tight. Director Zahler‘s notion of the human bone is one that cracks like a weak tree-branch or a brittle ceramic pot. We have some sensational (skull &) bone-breaking on display here, especially in the latter half. If the decapitation scenes in ‘Bone Tomahawk’ were any indication, Zahler‘s sophomore venture is literally off-the-chain. Perhaps to fit in these two films, the film takes its time at over two hours but this also allows for a host of brilliantly played scenes, like that between Fred Melamed as a pedantic prison guard who haggles with Bradley over his wedding ring: “I am neither a metallurgist nor a jeweler sir.” It’s not easy, balancing careful character development and a vivid sense of place with the bloodlust of expectations, but director Zahler’s done it here. Even as all of his world-building threatens to drown in the morass of gore that caps off the film, he wisely takes a breather in the final moments to offer a reminder that Bradley’s actions are all in service of something bigger than himself. Bradley isn’t a character you’d call likeable, but he’s driven by a strict moral code. If his wife and child are OK, then the rest of the world can go burn. As monstrous as he is, this drive puts you on his side. As he descends into hell, laying waste to everyone in his way, you want Bradley to succeed – you just wouldn’t want to be alone in a room with him. Set in an exceedingly grey universe crammed with savagery, director Zahler has also managed to weave a tale that focuses on an intricate husband- wife relationship. The scene towards the end where Bradley converses with his unborn child over the phone is thoroughly touchy, and reminds us how good Zahler is, at pulling off dramatic moments. The prison ambiance looks authentic (the faeces-filled WC, the kidney-taser belt, the dimly-lit cells, all of it), and the supervisors mercilessly hostile. Director Zahler is a horror director at heart and by the time we get to the titular cellblock – run by Don Johnson’s sadistic prison warden – we’re firmly in horror film territory, with all the attendant freedoms that entails. My only problem with the film would be, due to the obvious absence of CGI, the violence at times looks too unrealistic and cartoon like, and the climax, although one that provides proper closure, feels a little rushed. In probably the best role of his career, Vince Vaughn does so well that I am baffled as to why he has not tried such roles before. You’ll watch in awe and suspense as Vaughn shows off his acting chops and his physical strength as a Charlson Bronson stand in. Considering, the dramatic spates of his complex character and the intimidating face he pulls, at 47 years-old he’s suddenly an actor to watch out for. In supporting roles, Jennifer Carpenter looks elegant & pretty as always (why doesn’t she appear in more films?), and holds her own, while Don Johnson is oozing charm as Udo Kier is at his creepy best. On the whole, ‘Brawl in Cell Block 99’ is a brutal and compelling emotional rollercoaster with a career-best performance by Vaughn.