'Riders Of Justice (2020)' is an anti-revenge thriller. Though it has moments of more traditional genre fare, it's far more interested in exploring its broken characters and potent underlying themes than it is in providing cathartically violent thrills. The piece is mostly a meditative drama about grief, trauma, family and healing. It also features a fair bit of rumination on coincidence and causality, ultimately positing that trying to trace exactly why things happen is as painfully pointless as it is practically impossible. It's a melancholic movie that dismantles not only the inherently harmful concept of vengeance, but also the culture of toxic masculinity that prevents many men from productively coming to terms with the trauma they've faced. The protagonist expresses his atheism early on and warns his daughter of the perils of assigning meaning to meaningless things, then spends much of the flick attempting to do exactly the same thing, searching for someone who he can blame for his horrific situation. For him, violence is the default response; he's much more comfortable pointing a gun at someone - and, even, pulling the trigger - than he is reconciling his own emotions. Sometimes, bad things happen. That's all there is to it. Of course, it'd be easier if there was always someone - or something - to blame for the bad things that we experience, but there often just isn't and that's okay. This is an incredibly poignant and relevant thematic underpinning. The film's exploration of it is both thought-provoking and emotionally affecting. It elevates the overall affair to something much more viscerally impactful than you'd perhaps expect. It's an intelligent, intriguing and extremely technically competent experience that never quite does what you expect it to. Its oddball characters are highly compelling, its performances are heartbreakingly realistic, its humour is often unexpectedly effective, its general vibe is very empathetic and its overall message is surprisingly hopeful. Its drama is as enjoyable as its infrequent but punchy action. It's a phenomenal picture that's as traditionally entertaining as it is thematically rich and emotionally resonant. As of now, it's my favourite film of 2021 (based on its UK release date). 8/10.
