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[TIFF Review] ‘Brawl in Cell Block 99’: Brutality of Fights Worth the Price of Admission

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I’m not the biggest fan of Vince Vaughn. I find his film choices a little boring and his humor too frat boyish. It’s important for me to acknowledge this because my opinion of Vaughn initially made me disinterested in S. Craig Zahler’s Brawl in Cell Block 99 (hereafter referred to as Brawl). Thankfully Vaughn is cast against-type as Bradley Thomas, a soft spoken, mildly religious family man who turns to violence to protect his wife and unborn daughter.

Brawl is first and foremost a crime thriller, with a touch of exploitation thrown in for good measure. Or rather it’s the former for the first half and the latter for the second half, a slightly jarring mismatch that produces an uneven two hours-plus film that doesn’t entirely seem to know what it is.

The first half I enjoyed. There’s a lengthy introduction to the character and his situation, which helps to set the scene and clarify Bradley’s motivations. In the first minutes, Bradley is fired from his job and finds out his wife Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter) has been cheating on him, prompting him to destroy her car with his bare hands. This scene makes it clear that Bradley has the capacity to do great harm, but that he’s not a particularly violent man.

These qualities serve him well when he takes a job as a drug runner for his friend Gill (Marc Blucas). A quick time jump advances the plot 18 months: Bradley and Lauren are pregnant, they’re in a nice house with three cars and he’s Gill’s #1 guy. Obviously, it’s time for shit to hit the fan. A deal involving Mexican smuggler Eleazar (Dion Mucciacito) immediately goes south, requiring Bradley to put down one of Eleazar’s goons before he’s packed off to medium security prison. There he receives a visit from a creepy cartel mouthpiece (Udo Kier) with an ultimatum: kill a prisoner in the adjacent max security prison or Lauren and the baby will be penciled in for a date with the hilariously named Abortionist.

[Related] All TIFF 2017 News and Reviews!

At this point, Bradley and the screenplay correspondingly switch into exploitation territory and the violence that was previously restrained bursts loose. It feels odd to harp on this considering that’s what the film is, but the disconnect between the mostly dramatic first half and the over the top ridiculous second half makes Brawl feel like two separate films. Maximum security resembles nothing less than a Bond villain’s lair: the prison is made out of stone with IKEA lighting and labyrinthian corridors. The guards still have guns, but twisted Warden Tuggs (Don Johnson) enjoys outfitting prisoners with a battery-powered belt that targets the kidneys at the push of a button. The guards are decked out in HYDRA knock-off outfits and there are specialty cells with features like raw sewage or a floor of broken glass available at a moment’s notice.

I’m not suggesting that Brawl should be realistic. This is a film, after all, where a man can rip off a car hood with his bare hands and suffer no injuries. Aside from the change in tone from the first half to second, my issue is that the film is exceptionally poorly plotted. When Bradley is sentenced to medium security prison, there’s a scene set in a courtroom. He lasts less than 24 hours before he sends two guards to the hospital to secure the move to max, but there’s never a sentencing hearing, paperwork filed or even a moment when Bradley accepts that even if he pulls off his task, he is never getting out of prison.

More problematically, there’s no clear villain or escalation of violence. Films like The Raid or Dredd work because the fights, adversaries, and locations change to reflect a hierarchical progression towards the Big Bad.  In Brawl, this doesn’t occur. Bradley breaks arms and throws guards into walls in medium security, then he breaks arms and throws prisoners to gain access to cell block 99 and then he breaks legs (and heads) when he finally arrives at his destination. The fight scenes are brutal and satisfying, but they’re nearly identical. It’s not even clear that the film has reached its climax because it simply feels like another fight – there’s no big payoff or protracted sequence where Bradley must dispatch dozens of men or survive insurmountably. Instead, it’s a brief fight with four (!) men.

Thankfully the brutality of the fights is worth the price of admission. The use of practical effects and the lack of music video editing is also particularly noteworthy for a film that loves bashing heads in (audiences who enjoy heads split like melons are in for a treat). Performance-wise, Vaughn is serviceable (his size and height fit the bill), while Kier and Johnson do well in roles that allow them to ham it up. Disappointingly Carpenter is given nothing to do other than sleep and, in a deeply unsatisfying turn, Brawl handles her closing “fuck yeah” moment so badly it’s almost shocking.

Unfortunately, Brawl is the first big miss of TIFF. It’s tonally uneven, excessively long, repetitive and fails to properly build momentum even when it leans into its gonzo exploitation characteristics despite decent acting and spectacular fight scenes.

Joe is a TV addict with a background in Film Studies. He co-created TV/Film Fest blog QueerHorrorMovies and writes for Bloody Disgusting, Anatomy of a Scream, That Shelf, The Spool and Grim Magazine. He enjoys graphic novels, dark beer and plays multiple sports (adequately, never exceptionally). While he loves all horror, if given a choice, Joe always opts for slashers and creature features.

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SCREAMBOX Investigates UFOs and Extraterrestrials: Several Documentaries Streaming Right Now!

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As someone who is obsessed with UFOS (or more recently known as UAPs) and the concept of extraterrestrials, I love a good documentary. Sightings have been on the rise since the 1940s, with the atomic bomb seemingly acting as a catalyst for new visitors. But what are these UFOs/UAPs? Is there an explanation or are they simply beyond our explanation? Why are they here? Who are they? How much do our governments know? The questions are endless and so are the documentaries that attempt to uncover the secrets behind decades of sightings and alleged confrontations.

Whether you’re a seasoned viewer or new to the rabbit hole, there’s always a handful of interesting documentaries to get your neurons firing and leave you with sleepless nights. SCREAMBOX is investigating with the addition of several docs, all streaming now on the Bloody Disgusting-powered service. Here’s the breakdown:

Aliens (2021): Beam into this unidentified streaming documentary for a glimpse into Extraterrestrial life. Aliens are hypothetical life forms that may occur outside Earth or that did not originate on Earth.

Aliens Uncovered: Origins (2021): Before Area 51, hidden deep in the desert, the military discovered a hidden gem that helped them create Project Bluebook.

Aliens Uncovered: ET or Man-Made (2022): The crash of Roswell wasn’t meant for New Mexico. In 1947, a neighboring state had 3 major sightings that were swept under the rug.

Aliens Uncovered: The Golden Record (2023): In the late 70s, the US government launched a message to our distant neighbors.

Roswell (2021): This high-flying documentary examines the July 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Theories claim the crash was actually that of a flying saucer, but what is the truth?

Also check out:

The British UFO Files (2004): Since the 1940’s the British Government has been investigating the Flying Saucer phenomenon. High-ranking military and government personnel, speak out for the first time, offering unique eyewitness accounts and inside information.

Alien Abductions and Paranormal Sightings (2016): Amazing Footage and stories from real people as they reveal their personal encounters of being abducted by Aliens.

And do not miss Hellier (2019): A crew of paranormal researchers find themselves in a dying coal town, where a series of strange coincidences lead them to a decades-old mystery.

These documentaries join SCREAMBOX’s growing library of unique horror content, including Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Here for Blood, Terrifier 2, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, The Outwaters, Living with Chucky, Project Wolf Hunting, and Pennywise: The Story of IT.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

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