Originally Posted by
Papa Hotel
I know this is a thread for good movies but I have to talk about Brawl in Cell Block 99...
A few positive mentions of it in here piqued my interest so I watched it. And... well... I thought it was utter poo. I applaud VV for trying to do something different but quite frankly his skills just aren't up to it.
The fight scenes were stilted and wooden, with the fight participants almost seeming to pause in position before their opposite number throws the next badly-choreographed punch. This was held up as a positive by some online review; credit for staying away from the fast cuts most action movies employ. But then this highlighted WHY most action movies employ fast cuts in fight scenes; choreographed fights just don't look realistic, particularly with a guy so inexperienced and awkward as VV. The writing was on the wall 5 minutes in when VV, supposedly a former boxer threw punches at a car like he'd only just discovered he could move his hands in front of him, clearly preferring to leave his big ham shanks straight down by his side like the giant goon he is.
The Red Leaf prison was hilariously bad, particularly given that the previous prison was set in something resembling reality. I know, I know, suspend disbelief for the movies, but the progression of the story was all so choppy and uneven the movie itself was responsible for the lack of suspension of disbelief.
Anyway, I didn't like it.