Brawl In Cell Block 99. Jaysus.

I shouldn't have kept crashing all those weddings.

A foot kicks through a head. A child is threatened with hideous mutilation. Shattered teeth are picked out of an elbow. Are you bothered by any of the above? Well to be honest you probably should be but if the thought of seeing a film containing these things bothers you then yeah, this ain't for you. Really, do not apply.

Bradley Thomas is a reformed man but circumstance drives him back to an old way of life. Things of course go sideways and he finds himself in the slammer. A dark request is made of him, and his family is threatened if he doesn't comply. But Bradley is a big man who doesn't deal kindly with threats.

Every now and then a film is released that just flat out shocks audiences. You hear rumbles on the net when it starts getting shown at film festivals and then you read articles about it, all the while thinking, ahhh it's can't be that bad can it? And then you watch it and it blows you out of your fuckin' socks.

This is a belter of a movie. It reminded me of the best 1970's and 1980's thrillers. The ones that start off realistic and grim and downbeat and end up painting the screen red when the (anti) hero goes ballistic on his foes. Like those it's a film of two halves but skillful writing and characterisation sees both halves joined seamlessly and without being jarring tonally. That said you'll know the exact moment (pay attention to the soundtrack)  the film goes from crime drama to exploitation movie and you won't be surprised by any of the plot developments as moments in the first half that felt odd will now make sense and you'll smile with glee as the carnage splashes around you. You'll also smile at the little tiny moments of comedy sprinkled through out. They aren't much but I'm glad they are there. The film might just be too dark without them.

Vince Vaughn is a revelation. His comedy career went stale years ago and his turn in True Detective 2 was laughable but here he's something else. A force of nature. Between this and his solid role as a soldier in Hacksaw Ridge could we be seeing the start of a career renaissance as a tough guy? I actually hope so. He'd do very well at it. I never actually realised how big he was until i saw him take apart a car with his bare hands in the opening 10 minutes of the film. This is a side of him we've never seen before and it blows away the memories of a decade of piss poor comedies in an instant. He adds a nice touch of unexpected emotion to the movie too. After all he does what he does for his family. He might be big and scary looking but he still has a caring heart underneath it all. I also love that his scenes are filmed in long takes so you can see it's him at all times. No stuntmen. All adds to the lovely crunchy goodness of it all. 

Oh it's crunchy. As a matter of fact it's flat out hideous in places. Things happen to faces that I didn't think possible to happen to faces. The violence is brutal and stark. Nothing is glorified about it. We are all just bags of meat really and this movie shows us just how fragile we are. But even with all the blood and bone on display the worst moment in the film for me was a few simple lines of dialogue. A threat made to a family member. My stomach flipped like a pancake when i heard it delivered coolly and calmly by the great German actor Udo Kier. Oh jesus it's rough. It's a moment that will be too much for some. But enough about that. The supporting cast is solid. Jennifer Carpenter ( Deb from TV's Dexter ) is Bradley's better half Lauren. Don Johnston has a ball as the corrupt warden of the jail. Tom Guiry is good as a prison guard who is a sadistic piece of work and as mentioned already Udo Kier has a superbly effective cameo as a prison visitor.

The downsides. Yes there's a couple. Jennifer Carpenter is kind of wasted as Bradley's wife Lauren. She gets a few solid scenes in the first half of the film but gets sidelined after that. The rest of the time she's just a catalyst for Bradley's actions. And then there's the running time. It's 2 hr and 12 minutes long. Ridiculous. No need for a film like this to be that long. Even just losing 12 minutes and bringing it down to 2 hrs would have streamlined it a lot. 

Annoyances aside director S. Craig Zahler has made a gut punch of a thriller here. His first film as director was 2015's magnificent horror western Bone Tomahawk and this can stand tall beside it.

Well worth a watch but make sure you're able for it first.