Savage Salvation

This film had so much potential - interesting plot with lots to explore and expand on, amazing cast, good cinematography........ Let down by over the top and rushed action scenes and not enough detail and explanation to make it more than just ordinary.

With this calibre of actors and the basic idea and setting this has the potential to be so much more powerful and riveting.

There are elements that remind me of films such as 'Out of the Furnace' and 'No country for Old Men' but I feel these succeed through taking their time to detail the characters and provide an overview of where they're from and where they're going which means we are more invested in them and the story.. Apologies for not being more positive but this is a genre fav and I wa hoping for so-much more !

I only gave 4 stars but not because this is a bad movie. On the contrary it was quite entertaining for a run-of-the-mill revenge thriller. I was impressed with the cast, especially Willa Fitzgerald. The story, dialog and visuals were above my expectations.

The problem with this movie is the sound and music. It was difficult to make out some of the dialog and without subtitles I struggled to understand what was being said some of the time. Increasing the volume didn't help at all. The music used was oddly melancholic and very loud compared to the ambient sound. After 20 mins I restarted using high quality headphones but that wasn't much better. I probably would have given 6 stars but the poor sound quality bothered me too much.

Not any good? Some terrific actors are starring in this flop. Those actors are the only positive I can think of. I mean who can resist watching a movie with Robert de Niro and John Malkovich? They both only have got small supporting roles though for just some 15 minutes. Bummer.

The bad: this Randal Emmett guy, who has been a producer of LOTS OF pretty lousy B-movies in the past, now turned to directing a movie for only the second time and what a disaster of a movie he has made!

Everything is wrong with this movie, technically speaking. The photography is bland, the music score is incredibly annoying and totally not suited, the editing is all wrong.

But the biggest fail is the direction by Randall Emmett, who just doesnt know the first thing about how to dose and mix the right amount of ingredients.

Completely disjointed. Overly sentimental. Lots of chewed out cliches. Tedious from start till finish. What a mess of a movie...

Ruby Red (Willa Fitzgerald) and Shelby John (Jack Huston) get engaged and want to get clean of the drugs they were taking. Ruby Red wants to be baptized, too, and start life clean and free. But a drug dealer gets to Ruby Red. Shelby is beside himself and goes to kill all the drug dealers. Sheriff Church (Robert DeNiro and his deputy need to stop this killing spree.

Probably Bruce Willis should have played the Sheriff as DeNiro's performance looked a lot like a Wills slow walking gig in this low budget story. DeNiro had very little to do except near the end when he confronts Shelby with a gun.

No, most of the story is all Ruby Red and Shelby and later mostly Shelby as he goes gunning for drug dealers. A kind of surprising tidbit is when the movie is all Ruby Red and Shelby, we really didn't care for either of them. Whose fault is that? Yes, we wanted them to get clean of drugs, but when they were going through the withdrawals we just wanted those scenes to be over with and they went on for too long a time.

Directors these days are finding more brutal ways of killing and torturing people and this promotes unease in my wanting to watch an entertaining story. Cringe-worthy is a good word watching this movie.

Notables: John Malkovich as Peter, a supporter of the Church, but there is more to Peter as you will see; Clay Wilcox as Darius, a drug dealer; Quavo as Coyote as a drug runner.

This is watchable especially if you FF thru the killing and torturer scenes. Maybe this would have been better if the Sheriff didn't know that Shelby was the one killing drug dealers, but then again everyone knows everyone in a small town such as this was. (4/10)

Violence: Yes Sex: No.

Nudity: No.

Humor: No.

Language: Yes.

Rating: C.

IN A NUTSHELL: Sheriff Church (Robert De Niro) and Detective Zeppelin strive to keep the peace in their rough town, where residents' only two interests are the church or oxycodone. Newly engaged Shelby John (Jack Huston) and Ruby Red want a fresh start. They decide to have a family together and get clean, with the support of Peter, Ruby's brother-in-law (John Malkovich). However, Shelby discovers his beloved Ruby dead on their porch before she could fulfill her final wish: to be baptized in the river and washed away from her past sins. Filled with fiery rage, Shelby embarks on a vengeful killing spree to right all the wrong done to Ruby by every link in the drug dealing chain. Armed with nothing but adrenaline and a nail gun, Shelby picks off dealers and junkies one by one until he gets to the top. Sheriff Church and Detective Zeppelin must race against the clock to put an end to Shelby's vigilante justice before his fight with the crime lord Coyote (Quavo) turns the entire town into a bloodbath.

If you enjoy vigilante justice movies, you'll like this one. The problem with them is that you usually feel like you've been swimming in the gutter for 1 ½ hours after you finish watching them.

The movie was directed by Randall Emmett. The screenplay was written by Adam Taylor Barker and Chris Sivertson.

THINGS I LIKED: Who doesn't love Robert DeNiro? His face on the poster definitely caught my eye. He and John Malkovich both do a good job, but their talents are mostly wasted in this predictable movie.

The movie also features the awesome Dale Dickey. If you want to see her fantastic performance in a leading role, watch A Love Song.

Jack Huston also does a good job in his very dramatic role as the boyfriend who tries to hunt down the drug dealers whose products killed his girlfriend.

I really liked the soundtrack and musical choices.

There's a sense of satisfaction as you get to see scumbag drug dealers get what's coming to them.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Some characters speak in such low, garbled voices that it's hard to understand what everyone says. Sadly, I could almost never understand what Robert DeNiro said.

Acts 1 and 2 are very slow-moving while we watch people do drugs and get super sick. Hopefully, this movie will be an effective cautionary tale for people who are considering drugs by getting a realistic look at the awful consequences.

There are some very contrived, hokey moments.

Some of the characters seem more like exaggerated cartoon characters.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Tons of profanity and F-bombs Blood and gore Violence with multiple weapons High dead-body count with brutal deaths Cigarettes We see drug paraphernalia We see people shoot up drugs in their arm We see someone throw up.

We see a young woman in just her underwear We see a couple go at it (clothed) in a public park.

We see dead bodies.

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