The few times I have seen a Vince Vaughn movie, they had been wacky comedies, like "Dodgeball" (2004), "Wedding Crashers" (2005) or, more recently "The Internship" (2013). Since the debut of his latest film at the Venice International Film Festival last August, Vaughn had been gaining buzz about his unconventional character performance in it, with critics calling it the best performance of his whole career.
When what was supposed to be a routine drug pick-up went wrong, Bradley Thomas was arrested and thrown into a medium-security prison. A "Placid Man," representing the mastermind of the botched drug job, visited him on his second day to tell Bradley that harm will come to his pregnant wife Lauren and his unborn child if he does not obey their order to kill a certain prisoner who was currently locked up inside Cell Block 99 at the high-security prison Redleaf. Bradley had to come up with very violent acts of aggression, in order to get him into that cell block reserved only for the most psychotically-dangerous criminals.
With a huge tattoo of a cross on his clean shaven scalp, this is definitely a very different Vince Vaughn we see here. This 6-foot 5-inch actor, who was usually portrayed as a gentle giant, had been totally transformed here into a fearless, ruthless killing juggernaut. I can see why critics have been noting his portrayal of a role so way outside his usual comfort zone. His quiet moments could also make your skin crawl knowing how destructively crazy violent he could get. That car he took apart with his bare hands in the beginning was just a prelude to how he violent he could get.
It was good to see Don Johnson in a badass role as the tough Warden Tuggs of Redleaf. He has certainly aged a lot since his "Miami Vice" days (he is now 67 years old), but I could still recognize him behind that thick mustache he had on. Scrawny and scowling Jennifer Carpenter was such an unfortunate and unphotogenic choice as Bradley's wife Lauren. German actor Udo Kier, a familiar antagonist in several films, lived up to his character's nickname, Placid Man -- acting so cool on the outside but oh so evil to the core.
The ultra-violence of those fight scenes in this film by S. Craig Zahler (only his second feature film). The sound effects editing and mixing of those heavy punches, breaking bones, skull crushing was bad enough, but actually seeing them happening on that big screen is literally mind-blowing. That disturbing image of that scene where a man's face is dragged along concrete before being smashed in by one massive stomp is not something I want to see ever again. That shocking final scene will stick with you long after leaving the theater. Not my cup of tea for sure, but this film does well for its niche and genre. 6/10.
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