Brawl in Cell Block 99

Brawl in Cell Block 99 offers up a new definition of brutality in the field of cinema that affects and changes pop culture trends. It is an alternative form of superhero worlds with a guy who became an alpha avenger against his will, escalating with increasing violence and progressing into an almost surrealist depiction of contemporary prison environments. There is still some sense of social apathy (I refer to Bone Tomahawk), but this time there is a good intention behind all that straightforward brutality. An intention to protect. It’s like the darkest side of the poetic Drive but ten times more intense; two hours of rushing headlong into the deepest pits of hell. Vince Vaughn stars in the role of his life, for which he should be damn grateful to the director Zahler. But it is too minimalist to get an Oscar. Don Johnson might get a nomination for savoring a delicious comeback in his role of a sadistic warden, though. The climax put me into the same euphoric state of watching Pulp Fiction for the first time. Brawl is the film of the year, at least for all Tarantino lovers and fans of original visions of the underworld and crime. [Sitges FF] (11/10/2017)

A unique film without compromises which I don’t know what other movie I can compare it with in terms of atmosphere, impression or feeling – something that doesn’t happen very often in modern filmmaking. The main character looks like a “Trumpist redneck”, but the joke here is that if you are expecting him to behave based on the prejudice about his appearance, he will surprise you with how much more there is to him. The second joke is that you will still get some violence delivered by, but to such extent and so weirdly executed that it has an almost transcendental effect. It basically doesn’t look like a film. The whole movie has a fairly ugly cinematography (digital colours, unpleasant and unusual angles), the fighting scenes are almost uncut and frequently shot in unnaturally large set pieces, and the gore also looks differently than in other films. Like, I’ve never seen a tramped skull, but the fact that here it looks different than in a million other films gave me impression that I’m maybe seeing it for the first time ever. Rather than a film, Brawl in Cell Block 99 reminded me of a very realistic dream that gradually turns into a nightmare into which you plunge deeper and deeper. In any case, one of the films of the year. (14/10/2017)

A huge surprise for me personally. The director S. Craig Zahler has already proven to me with the movie Bone Tomahawk this year that he has some potential, but I really had no idea that Vince Vaughn would convince me after his bad performance in True Detective. A very decent revenge film, which takes place in numerous locations, but even though we see the prison most of the time, you can’t say it is a prison drama. On the contrary. Imagine a simple PC game with a clear target in the beginning and you go through the first, second, third, fourth level… to finally get to the final boss. This film is that simple. Simple, but harsh, uncompromising and mainly the quality is really good. You will realize that in the fighting scenes. And you will also realize that Vince has a gift which he has never shown in all of his comedies so far. Why? That’s a good question. Now I hope that he will have a chance to film better and more interesting films than those he’s done so far. (21/12/2017)

Arty grind-house that crushes skulls with its slow pace and human cruiser Vince Vaughn. Extremely precisely constructed tension and the director's brilliantly managed jump from a realistic introduction to a consistently B-movie finale in the environment of a cellar hell for invited psychopaths. Feat. Great cameos for frog eyes Udo Kier and the verbal frost of Frank Melamed. This is a portrait of a world that knows no mercy, with razor contours. Bradley Thomas is the hardest and coldest fucking bastard on the suffering market. North of OK, south of cancer. In my ideal world, people like S. Craig Zahler would win directing awards at big festivals. Because, for God's sake, this is an INNOVATIVE kick in the nuts, a director’s masterclass, whilst also being a genre film that had me invested since the first second. (13/11/2017)

Zahler really is great at writing both screenplays and books. That's why it's unexpectedly strange that this time he's writing betrays him. While the first half (and especially the prologue) is slow but not too slow time to support the motivations and to trigger the rage thriving inside Bradley "Hulk" Thomas, the second will ruin everything as soon as the system is entered. The characters in it are flat and almost unintentionally ridiculous. There is lack of action (which is not wrong), but it´s sloppy slow (which is wrong), the plot is completely absent, the locations of prisons are convincing, probably in the same was as promises during the election campaign. Instead of a straightforward strike (benefiting from Bradley's consistently constructed motivation), the movie starts to rely on absurd slowness. However, not in terms of style, which would build the tension of silence before the storm or pay attention to the characters, but superfluous, because it should have ended by tens of minutes earlier in the editing room. And the more is Vaughn being respectful in his initial civilian "d'Onofrio's" position, the less he fits in the subsequent jailbird position of a puncher acting in appaling style of Michael "Bronson" Peterson. Just another average grindhouse that takes advantage of the fact that there has not been any serious one in a long time. (15/10/2017)

Just another, regular day. You come home from work early and you find out that some jerk is sleeping with your wife. But you don’t go and rip his head off. No, you deal with it like a man and you try to rebuild the relationship and life you had before. But that requires time and money, so you start smuggling drugs… Brawl in Cell Block 99 stands mainly on Vince Vaughn’s minimalist performance (you’ll forget he ever played in comedies) and Zahler’s uncompromising approach to violence. The screenplay about Mr. Thomas and his journey taking him from prison to prison is full of broken limbs, stinking toilets and torture of all kinds. Since Bone Tomahawk, Zahler has improved his dramaturgic approach and the story has a much more consistent feel about it. The fantastic atmosphere where some scenes will make you want to barf, but you can’t tear your eyes from the screen is very special. Original. (30/03/2018)

A bit better compared to the directors debut. The uncompromising violence is now not an end in itself, but serves well in the compelling story of the anti-avenger played by Vince Vaughn, the protector of a family for whom the role is a solid fling, thankfully in a positive sense. As a prison drama, it's probably not entirely realistic, but as a bizarre probe into the world of violence, unspoken emotions and anger, it is very impressive. Lots of long shots full of despair and grief interspersed with moments of unreal carnage where broken arms and crushed skulls are the order of the day. Zahler delivers something that you don’t see often in the film world, but it's also far from being for everyone. Similarly innovative in the prison genre as the recent Shot Caller, only much slower and rougher. (24/10/2017)

The content of the film looks so bland, uninteresting, videotape-like... but the name of the director and screenwriter practically guarantees that it won't be a bland, uninteresting, videotape spectacle. And it's not. It's a powerful, dark, and very brutal story about a man determined to take justice into his own shackled hands, and Vince Vaughn is absolutely brilliant in the lead role, largely because he's not just a muscular brawler, but also a good actor, BiCB99 impressed me so much. I had no problem understanding Vaughn's character, his motivations were clear and I really liked how he doesn't hesitate but takes action immediately, doing absolutely horrible things that made me have to look away more than once, but he does them because he doesn't have time to think of anything else and probably doesn't enjoy it much either. I would never have guessed the film was over two hours long. (25/12/2019)

The story of Lamps and Brawl in Block 99 or How recognition becomes wonder. It doesn’t matter that it's a "low-brow", almost abstractly violent film in which one guy beats a whole bunch of enemies to smithereens. Brawl in Block 99 is a unique, unpredictable and brutal alternative to the bloated grindhouse genre, where the protagonist is much closer to the common man and the style imitates his development, first with austerity and minimalism, then with the use of surreal environments and detailed violence, which becomes the only possible way out; and culminating in an emotional climax that will blow you away. A superb Vaughn and a brilliant Zahler, who was born for this brawl. I have a feeling that when future generations of viewers debate cult films from the early part of this century, this unprecedented carnage will be at the top of the rankings. (29/09/2018)

A masterfully directed, filmed, narrated and written, badass film, in which the escalation, tension, atmosphere and characters are carefully built. The film also includes homeopathic doses of black humor, which is always followed by a shocking cold shower and an honest shot to the solar plexus. An original, inventive and dense civil drama that gradually turns into several types of thrillers, and in which inner sensitivity perfectly combines with raw brutality. This is also Vince Vaughn’s best performance, who has transformed from the playing the lead role in romantic comedies into a human hammer. This is an uncompromising Dante's Inferno in a prison, a must see for all those who can handle open fractures and trampled skulls. (03/12/2017)

Fifth screening at the cinema. Lessons learned: 1) Bones crunch way scarier in cinema sound. 2) The breaking of arms, legs, jaws, and other bodily appendages is great to share with an unsuspecting audience, leaning away from the screen and showing solidarity with the characters by exclaiming in pain. 3) The previously excellent dialogue increasingly comes across as paper thin. Especially due to the pacing of the film, in which everyone is always letting things get said all the way and many sentences are pure rhetorical monologues. 4) When one of the guards starts to vigorously beat Bradley with a baton in self-defense and it just doesn't do anything, I realized for the first time that I actually felt a little sorry for the guards here. 5) When Kamil Fila is sitting in front of you in the cinema, it's very hard not to paint a cross on the back of his head with a marker. (02/08/2020)

The premise is getting old. A good guy ends up in prison where things get even worse because of an evil prison boss, et cetera. S. Craig Zahler took a slightly different approach. I imagine there were quite a few viewers who didn’t manage to keep their dinner down during certain scenes. Those hardened by experience like myself, on the other hand, could savor each and every crack. The biggest surprise for me was Vince Vaughn, who was totally convincing and gave one of his best performances in my opinion. (11/03/2018)

This film is actually a blast! It has an incredible focus, and once it engulfs you, it doesn't let go until the end. You can tell the entire time that the special effects scenes aren't perfect, but you also see that it's on purpose and that it's not CGI. A wonderfully gritty show! (18/01/2018)

A devilish serving of ultimate evil for all the pregnant mums and Prague Pride parade participants. A whole new dimension of possibilities for physical pain, a B-movie to the loft with all the A-list elements, plus an almost arthouse-like demonstration of violence. Vince Vaughn must have waited his whole life for this role, because it fit him like a broken head in a prison hole. There's not much to analyze about it, it's naturalistic insanity that goes literally over the top. A totally different cup of tea than, say, Tarantino or Banshee, where at times I thought it was the final frontier of how to portray fights and depth of violence at all. I was sorely mistaken, because this is a whole different ball of wax. (06/02/2018)

After watching it, I have rather conflicting feelings. In any case, I'm pretty sure I never want to see this movie again. Personally, I would recommend it only to more hardened individuals. The first half drags terribly, but then it starts to pick up. going faster and faster. Some of the scenes were a bit ridiculous, but as the end approached, the excessive violence and brutality froze my smile and a wave of very unpleasant thoughts washed over me. (70%) (24/11/2022)