Brawl in Cell Block 99

Why was this movie in my watchlist for so long, shame on me. This film was my introduction to this director/writer, and I love his style.

This is a violent movie, but with a lot of personality and humour along the way. Vince Vaughn does a great job portraying a sociopath pushed into an impossible situation.

The pacing, the structure of the story, the dialog, the action, all superb. This movie is a journey all right, and an expertly shot one at that.

1. Bone Tomahawk

2. Dragged Across Concrete

3. Brawl in Cell Block 99

But as my rating suggests I think it's pretty great, and just like the other two I will watch this one again.

I was afraid I wasn't gonna be able to take Vince Vaughn seriously in this type of role but I did. I certainly took him a lot more seriously than I did in the second season of True Detective. I personally like his performance in Dragged Across Concrete more but he was still really good in this. And I never thought I would find him intimidating.

Also, casting Don Johnson as the sadistic warden was genius!

And now I want to check out more grindhouse movies!

Hits hard like "The Boys Next Door" meets "Walking Tall". The film is extremely unrealistic(in many ways), but Vaughn is solid. He sells this character. The fight scenes are choreographed quite well, and are far more realistic than the settings and timeline. It's a real strength for the film. You feel every punch and Vaughns strength really manifests itself on the screen. Kudo's to the director/choreographers. Plenty of action throughout - also enough playful sarcasm to keep it from being too heavy handed.

Put your brain on hold and just watch Vince kick some butt. Have yourself a cigar, a beer, and don't read too much into it.

Budget constraints are probably the main cause of the films' shortcomings, so I'm not docking-it too much for that. I don't want to raise expectations too high, but if its just the action/revenge junkies that like it 7/10 like me -I understand. Skull-crushing madness. Hard R!!!! The filmmakers must've gone through an "albeit different" hell(as the main character) getting this an R rating. Id say Id love to see an unrated version, but really, this was plenty. Nice to see Vince in a better non-comedic leading role. He still didn't get enough backstory/wife-time. A little more background dialog, along with shaping up some sets, and this could've been interplanetary B greatness.. as it is.. also slightly underwritten and a little unpolished.. 7/10.. guilty pleasure niche flick..

This is gonna go cult-status among some action fans, gore fans, and in particular, revenge fans.

Vaughn's size sells every superhero aspect. Almost a little m.night "unbreakable vibe" too, only nowhere near as good camera-work, or story. I assume many of those faults will be excused because the film knows exactly what it is, unabashed and prideful B-actioner with at least a smidgen of heart to keep it together.

Better than most films of this guild. I dig the "what makes a man tough" thing.. that works here.. Tough guys are born of harsh histories and fearlessness... that aspect is realistic. My marginal recommendation is turned high if u fit the bill for this type of thing. Better than Stallone's "Lock-Up" or "Escape" - Not by much though - 69 out of 100.. Most of the "you'll like this if you liked" films mentioned in the description, but add-on 2008's "Escapist" and the same years' "Felon", both a touch better. For 1.50/nt at the redbox, it's a worthwhile view, but absolutely NOT for kids(or even teens?), and seriously consider whether you wanna invite the wife. Hardcore B-Movie.

BRUTAL.

S. Craig Zahler is proving himself to be a director worth paying attention to. I became a fan after seeing Bone Tomahawk, and have read several of his novels including Mean Business on North Ganson Street and Wraiths of the Broken Land. Also, his incredible un-produced screenplay The Brigands of Rattleborge.

BRAWL is very similar to Bone Tomahawk in terms of pacing, story structure and tone. A slow descent into a hellish situation.

I don't agree with people who say he is a "second-rate Tarantino." Tarantino does homage. Even Robert Rodriguez, in his attempts to do exploitation films, call too much attention to themselves and end up bordering on spoof, whereas BRAWL just simply is an exploitation film.

Perhaps some of Zahler's dialogue works better on the page than spoken, but I still think he is a great writer.

The low-key style of the film, with the every-man type of character Vaughn plays who gets mixed up in a serious situation makes this movie seem like a combination of Nicolas Winding Refn's PUSHER II and Cassavettes' KILLING OF A Chinese BOOKIE.

There are even some subtle hints of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13.

My only real gripes are that some of the dialogue exchanges are kind of stilted, and the staging of characters in some scenes seems too stiff and unnatural.

I like that the themes, such as privatization of prisons, are beneath the surface and not drilled into the audiences' head.

Its not a perfect movie, I hope Zahler continues to branch out but its a cool throwback movie that isn't trying to play it safe or cater to a wide audience and knows what type of movie it wants to be.

Because writer/director Zahler has taken his audience back to an era when films were simpler, direct, and,above all, unrelenting in their pursuit of a single theme or idea.

He has manufactured a true guilty pleasure -- a film about a man making bad choices that is driven by brilliant characterizations, raw Adrenalin, and a compelling narrative that makes you watch no matter how much you know you should look away.

In the grand tradition of Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood, Vaughn, an actor once relegated to romantic comedies, does "the" physical role of his career and it is a barn burner.

There is no pretense at class. This is 1960s grindhouse from start to finish and if you have any doubts just listen to the closing music at the 2:05 mark --- a brisk orchestral piece that sounds more fitting to a vaudeville act than a melodrama. Zahler ends the show by signalling that he was messing with your head, overloading your senses, all along -- and moreover he was doing it deliberately and knowingly.

Don Johnson, an actor who continues to win SEXIEST MAN ALIVE awards for merely showing up at the ceremony, wanted to try something different and succeeded - his cigar-smoking, sadistic warden is a masterpiece. Unforgettable.

A hard film to review, a difficult film to classify, and an impossible film to ignore. The closest analog in this era would be the highly stylized, and highly violent, films from South Korea that glorify the individual over the system.

Highly recommended.

((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))