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Oh Yes, There Will Be Blood

When the corpse of a young man is found and a piece of flesh in the form of a jigsaw is missing on his shoulder, Detective Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) soon realizes that an infamous psychopathic serial killer (Tobin Bell) is about to play his game one more time. When hidden evidence points to the killer’s lair, a race against time ensues. While detective Matthews and S.W.A.T teams try to locate and apprehend the sadistic psychopath, eight people (among them Matthew’s son) are breathing in a deadly nerve agent somewhere across town and become puppets in the Jigsaw’s sick game. Being told that there are several antidotes scattered around the house, the prisoners will have to solve vicious riddles and avoid deathtraps that have been set up by the killer. Once tension has built up between the eight strangers the fight for survival has begun, and obviously only the fittest will survive.

After last year’s sleeper-hit Saw, it was only a matter of time until the second installment would hit theaters but nobody expected it to be so soon. Nonetheless, we are not given the impression that this movie has been rushed since Saw II features a well thought-out script that tries to tamper with your mind. Just like its predecessor, Saw II is an at-the-edge-of-your-seat experience that requires a strong stomach and may even repel some cinema-goers. Like so many sequels before, this second installment tries to push the boundaries while upping the ante at absurdum. Saw II fortunately manages to stop just before the ridiculous. The gore level has of course been taken to a whole different level but leaves you disturbed rather than amused. The question is however, whether showing the most repelling things man is capable of, is a working concept in today’s culture and entertainment industry. That being said, Saw II is by no means a bad movie; it is actually a welcome change from the teeny-horror movies that had been unleashed in the 90’s. If you look closely, the movie might even teach some kind of lesson, you know, somewhere between all those limbs and brain matter.

Unfortunately, though, if you already saw Saw, you pretty much already saw Saw II and I am taking a wild guess here but I believe this is not the last time we saw the Jigsaw in Saw. (2 out of 4 buckets of the red stuff)

I am a bounty hunter.

Her name is Domino Harvey and she is a bounty hunter. Based on a (sort of) true story, Domino, being held in custody by the FBI (Lucy Liu), recaptures the latest coup of the bounty hunter trio (Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke and Edgar Ramirez) that has gone awfully wrong. Ending up with 10 million dollars belonging to the mob, they are in need of a well laid out plan in order to return the cash to its ‘rightful’ owner while not being shot in the process. In between, flashbacks tell us how such a delicate little thing like Domino became a bounty hunter in the first place and how she was not meant to live in that 90210 world her mother fancied so much. In search of a job she comes across Ed and Choco, apparently the most legendary bounty hunters in all of Los Angeles, and joins them for a little bit of fun. What followed was indeed a fun if chaotic life full of shotguns, flying bullets and the occasional lap dance.

After yet another version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Keira Knightley stars and excels in Tony Scott’s latest work. Knightley is great in the role of the delicate yet extremely tough and determined girl and surprises with a certain sex appeal that never really showed before. The rest of the cast are similarly great even though it is shame that some characters remain underdeveloped and as a result stars like Christopher Walken or Mena Suvari don’t get nearly as much screen time as they would have deserved. Just like Domino’s life, the movie feels sometimes overloaded, too chaotic and confusing, above all because the movie sometimes rewinds and revisits a passed event just to tell us that it happened in a completely different way than we were initially led to believe. Apart from that, the handheld-like camera work and oversaturated colors are nice effects (and make an allusion to the reality TV show that follows the bounty hunters on their daily pursuits) but grow increasingly tiresome half-way through the movie. Nevertheless, Domino remains a fun, kind of factual piece of fiction with great music, great cast and great expectations. (2.5 out of 4 pizzas)

Everyone has something to hide.

Middleton, Indiana, is your average ordinary small town and Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), working at a dinner and being the father of two, is your average ordinary guy. Nothing much ever happens in Middleton, Indiana, except for one day when two strangers enter Tom’s diner and threaten to kill and rape two of his coworkers, Tom has to act fast. Shooting both intruders and thereby saving his friends’ lives brings him overnight stardom. Journalists show up at his house, newspapers put Tom on their front page and so he suddenly becomes Middleton’s very own hero. Unfortunately, Tom’s sudden fame also attracts the Philadelphian mob (Ed Harris among others) to Middleton and he soon finds himself and his family threatened by the guys in black. In an attempt to save his family Tom needs to turn his back on the ones he loves and face his past one last time.

Director David Cronenberg’s (Spider) adaptation of the History of Violence graphic novel is probably one of his best films to date. Given that the plot is somewhat simplistic and predictable it is nevertheless extremely gripping to see how the different events unfold. Apart from Viggo Mortensen in the lead role it is above all the supporting cast that needs to be praised for their outstanding performances. Ed Harris and William Hurt are both scene-stealers in this provocative piece that attempts to point out and visualize violence in all of its forms. Behind A History of Violence lies a cautionary tale that proves that violence is part
of the human being and human life and can never entirely be surrendered. This fact is demonstrated in a plethora of violent and extremely bloody shootouts as well as language, sex and domestic life in general. Despite its roots in the graphic novel and its slightly ironic tone, A History of Violence remains a thought-provoking piece of R-rated fiction that is obviously not for the faint of heart.

A history of the human condition. (2.5 out of 4 spools of barbwire)