Summary: A seemingly normal 20-something is fed up with the state of the world and decides to do something about it: by mowing down everyone who stands in his way.
I know, I know. Why would anyone watch an Uwe Boll movie? Normally, that would be a completely valid question, but in this case he actually managed to make a good movie. Some of you might be thinking that “good” for Uwe Boll is not exactly a high bar, but actually, it is justifiably good, not just good for Uwe Boll. And considering that he both wrote and directed the movie, I can only assume it wasn’t even an accident. It seems like an odd passion project, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
The start of the movie is a bit slow, with only flashes of violence from Bill’s mind (he’s our rampager). Instead of hopping straight into the killing spree, Boll actually takes a while to establish who his character is and why he does what he does. This is the movie’s greatest strength and what sets it above the type of movie you would expect it to be. The exploration of why someone would go on a killing spree and the obsessive lengths he goes to in preparing made this movie interesting as opposed to just violence for violence’s sake. Boll is certainly not trying to excuse this behaviour, nor is he even saying that Bill’s reasons are valid. He is just showing that these people do have reasons for what they do, even if they are not acceptable or even understandable to us.
Once Bill starts his rampage the action does not let up, but it is not enjoyable. I would be upset if I thought the movie was trying to make someone going on a killing spree of innocent people seem fun. In fact, I’m not even a fan of the word “spree” in this context because a spree sounds like a good time, like a shopping spree or something. That is not to say that there aren’t some humourous moments included – the bingo hall is great. Like Shakespeare, Boll realizes that some humour is necessary to relieve the tension that he is building and he does this effectively, but most of the laughs are somewhat uncomfortable due to their context. (Side note – I can’t quite believe I just wrote a sentence comparing Uwe Boll and Shakespeare. That must violate some sort of universal law… somewhere I just ripped a whole in the fabric of space-time.)
I also want to say that the planning that Bill puts in to the rampage really pays off from a plot point of view. I won’t say anything more because I don’t want to spoil it, but it is surprisingly clever.
So yeah… go see this Uwe Boll movie… why is there a strange, glowing rift appearing in the air above my monitor… and tentacles! Oh god, what have I done??!!?!?!?!!
C+
originally posted Oct. 25, 2009
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