Big Bad Wolves

BBW deserves a 7 out of 10 and I would have rated it higher if the screen writer would have made a somewhat greater effort to avoid what I considered a disappointing ending to the film that just came out flat. There is some very good acting between the three main characters as well as by the supporting cast. Continual suspense is maintained and the film is sprinkled throughout with a bit of dark humour to allow the audience not to take the film too seriously.

The film does not rely on extensive blood and gore neither by the serial killer Dror, or by his own captors and tormentors, Gidi and Micki. I was quite impressed with how the suspense was maintained all the way through the film as well as a few slick twists and turns such as when Gidi's father arrives at the cottage and discovers what his son Gidi has been up to.

The trick I believe to delivering a great film is to have the audience feeling good about how the film ends such that we would like to see a sequel, or leaving us with the desire to view the film a second time. In this case, I found the films closing scenes were a big let down mainly because the rest of the film was so suspenseful and entertaining. Upon leaving the film what a screen writer really does not want to hear is the audience saying "well that was a dumb ending wasn't it?"

This is a high rising film which came up flat at the end. I rated the film a 7 out of 10.

Embittered over his preteen daughter's rape and murder, an intelligence officer kidnaps the chief suspect and sets about torturing him with the assistance of a former detective in this gripping Israeli thriller. From the premise alone, 'Big Bad Wolves' might sound like a sadistic 'torture porn' movie, however, the focus of the film is the torturers themselves and their unflinching certainty that they have the right man despite his ongoing protests of innocence and the severe lack of evidence against him. Have the torturers let their emotions overcome them and get in the way of sound judgment, or could they actually be right? It is an interesting central dynamic, however, the film would have benefited from greater ambiguity. It is made so abundantly clear that the torture victim is innocent that we are constantly on his side throughout and never really on the side of the intelligent officer and detective. The initially shocking ending also makes less and less sense the more one thinks about it and the comedy angle often awkwardly subtracts from the grimness of the tale. That said, there are admittedly some genuine laughs in the mix. The film is enticing the whole way too; certain scenes are so brutal that they are hard to watch, but there is a welcome intensity in the air with the lingering questions of just how far the torturers will go and just how much suffering their victim will undergo before he confesses (regardless of actual guilt) as the pain becomes too much. The acting is top notch, especially from Doval'e Glickman, and the sets and music are appropriately ominous.

It sounds like a comedy, and certainly, the way the movie plays undermines the seriousness of the subject, (no spoilers here!) but that is okay, because not always do things have to be so gritty, dark and brutal.

In a way, "Big Bad Wolves" is the antithesis of "Prisoners" (2013), and this is not a bad thing, because "Big Bad Wolves" does not toy with our emotions, anger or despair, but with our curiosity, with our doubts, all the way to the final scene that fades into the elegance of irony and what we already knew.

The acting and the atmosphere creates what I crave most in a film, and this is: unpredictability; who really did it?, why?, where? These questions became irrelevant, because we are just in it for the ride that provides a good movie like this.

Though Quentin Tarantino might have been exaggerating the movie a bit by calling it the best movie of 2013, it would probably land somewhere in the top 15. The movie has both violence & gore, but what really hits home is the psychological terror and the mystery of the identity of the killer. The slow details of the murder cases really clash with the motives of those involved and really makes you take a side with who you think is right and wrong. Though the movie doesn't reinvent the serial killer genre, but it does stand tall with its amazing cinematography and black humor. One of the better torture porns of recent memory (though not terribly graphic). Its on Netflix and certainly worth a watch!

Full Review at: http://www.simplefilmreviews.com/2014/05/big-bad-wolves-2013.html

Quentin Tarantino called this the best movie of the year, and it is definitely one of the top ten. A school teacher is suspected of abducting, killing, and beheading little girls. What follows is a mixture of brutal torture blended with a sardonic humor you would expect from either the Coen brothers or Tarantino. Top notch acting is combined with a script which keeps the viewer wondering whether or not the accused is a monster or a victim. Be forewarned that a hammer, pliers, and blow torch are used as tools of coercion on the alleged pedophile; so a strong stomach is required to survive this film. Also, it is in Hebrew, so be prepared to read many subtitles throughout the one hour and fifty minute running time. Big Bad Wolves is well worth the journey.