Writer-director S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk) unveiled his second feature, Brawl In Cell Block 99, in theaters for a brief run before the film’s recent release on DVD. This powerful, almost noirish, and very violent prison thriller may now find a wider, more appreciative audience on DVD.
After losing his job and finding out his wife had an affair on the same day, former boxer Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn) decides to forgive her and go back to his former occupation as a drug mule. Eighteen months later, with his wife Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter) expecting their first child, Bradley is ordered by his boss Gil (Marc Blucas) to pick up some meth with two henchmen working for Gil’s new partner Eleazar (Dion Mucciacito). But the two hoods try to run off with the drugs and wind up in a shootout with the police. Bradley intervenes, killing one of the pushers and knocking out the other, but winds up being sentenced to seven years in a medium-security prison.
Then Lauren is kidnapped by Eleazar’s men. One of Eleazar’s representatives (Udo Keir) visits Bradley and tells him that if he doesn’t want any harm done to Lauren and their unborn child, Bradley must arrange to be transferred to the Redleaf maximum security prison, run by the nasty and sadistic Warden Tuggs (Don Johnson). There, in Cell Block 99, is a prisoner that Bradley must get close to and kill. But things, as you might expect, aren’t quite what they seem…
After a slow first half, which sets up Bradley’s situation and motivation, the second half of Cell Block 99 gets its groove. Lots of violent confrontations occur between Bradley and the other guards and prisoners at the prisons, and the dark, filthy, and claustrophobic underground Cell Block 99 looks literally like Hell itself. (Earlier in the film, Bradley complained to Lauren that their house needed new curtains because there was too much sunshine!) The fight sequences are well choreographed, with Vaughn making a vivid impression as a frighteningly calm but lethal combatant. And check out the soundtrack, which features new songs by The O’Jays!
Performances are good, with Vaughn, Keir, and an especially oily Johnson the standouts! And the final scene will knock you out! If you like good exploitative action flicks, Brawl In Cell Block 99 is for you!
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