After a couple of weeks when ‘Captain America Civil War’ was allowed to dominate the box office, and before the upcoming X Men movie we have a sudden clutch of potentially rich releases. On May 13th, 2 of my 3 most anticipated films of the year – ‘Our Kind of Traitor’ and ‘Everybody Wants Some’ – as well as 3 others that I have been really looking forward to: ‘Green Room’, ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’, and ‘Mustang’.
Reviews of the other 4 will follow, but first…
Writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s follow-up to 2014’s tense low-budget thriller Blue Ruin doesn’t disappoint. Pleasingly, for now at least, he has resisted any temptation to move to bigger budget or franchise movies and has delivered another film in a similar vein to his first.
A punk group, needing to make some cash, agree to play on a bill at a secluded, overtly right-wing, establishment. Returning to the green room after their set they stumble on the aftermath of a murder and end up trapped in the room whilst the people running the show try to cover the killing up and dispose of any outside witnesses. Grimy, very dark and with scenes of really graphic violence, this clearly will not be to everyone’s taste – three people walked out of the showing I attended.
I thought it was terrifically tense, thanks to Saulnier’s adept handling of the material, and believable performances all round – with Macon Blair and Imogen Poots deserving a special mention. Also, the music scenes were unusually accurately depicted – the sweaty small venue felt very familiar to me. With no major stars, the fate of the protagonists remained in doubt until the very end of the film.
It is a shame that the last 15 minutes didn’t live up to what went before, though the wend line is a hoot, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10