No Beast So Fierce

What a terrific small budget indie thriller. It starts off slow and you wonder where it is going. Then it just grips and drags you into this finale that blows you away. Gritty acting. The sets are so grimy you feel you can touch them. And yet the camera work is so beautiful at times. The cast, including Dylan Baker, puts in a good performance and the director sure knows what he's doing. If you like film noir or neo noir, this little gem is definitely a must watch.

The acting was sufficient. The basic plot was: Charlie gets out of prison after 20 years, all the while never having seen his wife and young son. On last day in prison Charlie steps in to help out a new corrections officer at the prison, and subdues an inmate. The inmate promises Charlie that his son is going to pay. Charlie spends most of the movie desperately trying to track down his son to warn him.

The entire movie hinges on one sequence of events. I played and replayed that sequence of events at least a half dozen times. I do not know if it was the editing, or the photography, or the script; but after this scene my question was "what the hell just happened?" It's not that the audience doesn't realize what's happened; it's that the sequence was filmed so poorly, or edited so poorly, or maybe even written so poorly that it just does not make sense.

That was the fundamental and fatal flaw in the movie. If that one climatic scene had made any sense at all, the movie would be a 7 instead of a 3. But to flub a scene, badly, and that scene being the pivotal scene of the move....was unforgivable.

I wasn't expecting much of an hour and 20 minutes movie. Delivered way more than I expected. Definitely worth watching.

A huge twist at the end. Sloooooow to get there. Brutal when you do.

Strong acting and interesting story. Starts out as typical prison film and then moves on to a really twisted revenge story. I was watching the movie with several others and each guessed a different and wrong ending as we watched.

Not a perfect movie but well acted and strong story line. Not for kids as there as some harsh scenes but I think adults would enjoy the watch.