Brawl In Cell Block 99 * * * *
Love the title. It sounds about as cheap and nasty as a film can get.
Brawl In Cell Block 99 is a 2017 film by S. Craig Zahler who gave us the excellent Bone Tomahawk in 2015.
Like Bone Tomahawk it has a "Theatre" feel to it. The choice of sets, or locations, are not quite what they should be. The priority seems to be to reflect an atmosphere rather than a reality. I am certain that prisons are horrible places but Cell Block 99 is beyond medieval. A filthy, frightening dungeon in the lowest level of the prison complex. Like theater, the film invites you to accept the set rather than demanding it be realistic.
It stars Vince Vaughan who is mostly known for his comic work. In this film, with his tattooed bald head and imposing size he makes for a convincing hard man who we come to know as Bradley (don't call him Brad!)
Sacked from his job as a tow-truck driver and desperate for money Bradley feels he has no choice but go back to his old line of work, transporting drugs for a major dealer.
One day he is asked to help move a large shipment in co-operation with a Mexican cartel. Things go very wrong and Bradley ends up getting seven years.
He has all the making of a model prisoner who could be rehabilitated and that his intent, until the same Mexican Cartel kidnap his wife and inform him he has to assassinate a prisoner in Cell Block 99 or they will abort the baby she is carrying. The only way to get into Cell Block 99 is to be the baddest of the bad, so that is what Bradley becomes.
It's a brutal film to say the least, yet the lasting impression is that you have experienced a fine piece of cinematic art. I'd call Zahler one of the most interesting writer/directors working in America today. His latest film Dragged Across The Concrete is being released this month. I'll be watching out for it!
Brawl In Cell Block 99 is a 2017 film by S. Craig Zahler who gave us the excellent Bone Tomahawk in 2015.
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| Bradley says hello to his fellow inmates |
It stars Vince Vaughan who is mostly known for his comic work. In this film, with his tattooed bald head and imposing size he makes for a convincing hard man who we come to know as Bradley (don't call him Brad!)
Sacked from his job as a tow-truck driver and desperate for money Bradley feels he has no choice but go back to his old line of work, transporting drugs for a major dealer.
One day he is asked to help move a large shipment in co-operation with a Mexican cartel. Things go very wrong and Bradley ends up getting seven years.
He has all the making of a model prisoner who could be rehabilitated and that his intent, until the same Mexican Cartel kidnap his wife and inform him he has to assassinate a prisoner in Cell Block 99 or they will abort the baby she is carrying. The only way to get into Cell Block 99 is to be the baddest of the bad, so that is what Bradley becomes.
It's a brutal film to say the least, yet the lasting impression is that you have experienced a fine piece of cinematic art. I'd call Zahler one of the most interesting writer/directors working in America today. His latest film Dragged Across The Concrete is being released this month. I'll be watching out for it!
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