The Vigilante

I had never actually heard about this 2023 thriller titled "The Vigilante" prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2024. However, I must say that the movie's synopsis sounded interesting enough. Plus, the fact that it was a movie that I had never heard about, much less actually watched, of course I opted to give the movie a fair chance.

The storyline in "The Vigilante" was fair. It wasn't, however, an outstanding foray into a thriller with a human trafficking theme. Sure, it was watchable and entertaining enough, but at the same time writers Kara Myers and Lee Whittaker only managed to muster a somewhat generic script and storyline.

The movie is not without flaws, of course. And I have to say that the fact that Dan (played by Eric Pierce) could just sit down and effortlessly code a program to locate houses used for human trafficking was just ludicrous. Especially since with such an ability he would have been working for a high end government branch. It was just laughably stupid, not to mention lazy writing. And wouldn't police and law enforcement benefit tremendously from having such software?

The only familiar face on the cast list in this movie, for me, was actor Julien Cesario. The acting performances in "The Vigilante" were fair, I will say that much.

Watchable for what it was, "The Vigilante" just didn't stand out as being particularly impressive, inventive or memorable. It is hardly a movie that will grace my screen a second time. However, it should be said that there are far more compelling and entertaining movies out there with a human trafficking theme.

My rating of director Lee Whittaker's 2023 movie "The Vigilante" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.

It's clearly a B film, so as such, it's a middle of the road viewing experience. There are much more bottom of the bargain bin B films, and much better ones, and this one had a good theme, but was riddled with many rookie filmmaking mistakes.

There were many holes in the writing as well as plot and technical issues. The PTSD flashbacks started to become annoying, then ended up being cringe and worthy of eyerolls. Even the sister's whole "dancing" scenes were pointless and just added annoying filler that detracted from the urgency and seriousness of her situation. Had those scenes and the PTSD ones been cut out, and the pacing picked up by at least 1.2x, I may have enjoyed this more and been more forgiving to the many other filmmaking errors.

But as it was, the 101 min runtime felt way longer and I caught myself losing interest many times. There were also too many sappy and poorly thought out writing issues, some I could even call lazy. For example, everyone knows from Vigilante Class 101, you wear a mask to hide your identity. I also found most of the action scenes poorly filmed and choreographed.

Casting and performances where adequate for a B film, although Jandreau's character was the least convincing. Partial blame I'm sure goes to poor cast direction and also to poor writing, especially when in some scenes she easily takes down big guys with her military training, and then can't handle taking down the women she fought. It really made those scenes feel like amateur-hour filmmaking you'd expect from a high school drama class. Nevertheless, it's better than watching paint dry, and that's a hard find with most of the poor quality B films out lately.

It was really well done except for the completely idiotic, continuous music that pretty much ruined the entire film, which is a complete shame.

It needed a tighter rewrite, but it is no worst that many big budget films, so I can forgive that. The lead actor was not great, and was very monotone and one note, but they could not have asked for a better action actor, bar none. She as ON IT!

The cinematography was good, great in fact; the stunts were outstanding for what it was (minus the rubber knife in the final fight scene, which was laughable - they must have run out of money for better props) and the editing as excellent; the acting for a low budget film was passable, the action was fast and as believable as anything else like this, though over the top, but that is usual. The horror of the situation and the fact that this happens every day of the week, was rough enough in itself, but I can even forgive that.

The music however was beyond absurd, continuous, loud, simpleminded, over the top and just about and almost completely ruined the entire film. What is wrong with these filmmakers who actually have talent, who destroy their film with such stupidity.

I hope he does better.

If ever there is a reason for people to stop posting everything on social media, especially pictures of their children, this movie makes that statement, once again. It is a stupid thing to do in a world with so many active predators.

Overall, watchable, and if they get that music nonsense under control, these folks have the makings of really good filmmakers.

These kind of movies really get me, you have this trained killer who's just fighting against everybody just killing them? And then all of a sudden, it's just an ordinary person that has no training, never fights. And nothing like that, and they get the best of them. How is it? They get the best of them when it's other people that fight all the time, can't even get the best of them. Make it real. I just fast forwarded, because I just really needed to get to the end. This movie was taken a little too long, when we all know was going to find her.

Wanted to like this film, as it seems by the ratings a lot of people did, but it's so amateurish beyond belief.

Our hero, a lady with so many teeth she cannot actually close her mouth, is the usual war hero, expert at everything to do with warfare, of course.

Somehow her friend finds out where young girls are being housed (if it was that easy the cops would have already done it?), so they start breaking into these houses. No mask, no hood, no voice disguiser, nothing.

Amazingly, the cops talk to her about it. Wonder how they realised?

Everyone talks in a bizarre, muffled way, and I inevitably missed some of the dialogue.

In short, this has all been done before, only SO much better, so I really wouldn't bother if I were you.