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B+ |
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A memorable morality tale.
by Brian (movies profile)
May 12, 2005
5
of
7 people found this review helpful
This could have been a straight-ahead action film, but it uses action only as garnishing. The main course is character -- in this case, a genuinely evil and remorseless character.
The director set the story up like a prize fight. The opening rounda help us identify with King's ambition to achieve redemption. The middle rounds play out the match, showing King flex his muscles and display his skills -- but the director lets this part of the story extend itself much farther than necessary. The final rounds, however, are worth waiting for, and deliver a brutal and bitter finish. At the point when a prizefighter should be receiving the accolades of the audience, we are instead reduced to hushed silence, forced to behold the devasting effects of one person's life upon the lives of others.
As an audience, we are trained to expect violence to redeem heroes and punish the wicked. This movie refuses to pander to that popular myth. It leaves us with cold embers of character and consequences -- nothing more, but nothing less. |
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