Redemption - Stunde der Vergeltung

Reviews seem evenly split between 'masterpiece' and 'disaster,' so let me cast a tie-breaking vote. You can look at Redemption as either a thoughtful action movie or a violent art film... but it's very good either way.

The acting is definitely worthwhile. Statham has always been better than the average action star, and here he's given more emotional material to chew on than in most of his vehicles. Buzek is equally solid as the Polish nun. She's far from a conventional beauty, and seems perfectly cast.

The production is excellent, with a gritty, super-saturated urban look to it. And the story? I think it holds up extremely well. This is a bit of a fable, a vignette out of the middle of a turbulent life. Joey made me think of a more-thoughtful, less self-assured Jack Reacher. He's a product of our violent world, who's trying to do the right thing and thereby buy back his soul.

The film doesn't pull back from the contradictions of his attempt to find inner peace through extreme violence. And it gives us many memorable vignettes along the way. The business with the red dress. The opera. The pizza parties at the soup kitchen. These build up a very effective portrait of Joey. The ending is unconventional, and, I think, extremely appropriate. It says something not just about Joey, but about the needlessly violent world we've built - or allowed to be built in our name.

Redemption may not be a timeless classic of the cinema, but it's hard to deny that it is a very good little film, with many admirable qualities. It's a film I'll certainly enjoy watching more than once.