Review of Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) by John M — 17 Jan 2018

Who could have seen this coming? So this is about a former boxer (Vince Vaughn). He's running drugs to make ends meet and eventually lands himself in prison. It seems like he is going to be able to make it just by keeping his head down, but then he gets approached with an offer from the outside that he can't refuse.

That's when things take a turn for the violent. Now I heard about how bonkers this got beforehand, so naturally I bumped it up on my DVD queue at my earliest opportunity. This does say pretty well grounded for the most part, but I am happy to say that it did eventually make its way into the territory of me shouting at the television when something especially crazy happened, and that is exactly the reason why I watched this in the first place.

The most noteworthy thing about this has got to be Vince Vaughn. He has made a career of doing almost exclusively comedies that range from decent to mediocre, and after seeing this, I really just want to ask him why.

I've never seen him do anything that is in the same ballpark as the performance he delivers here, and he transforms himself into a character that wouldn't be out of place in something in the Punisher universe.

He uses his Lurch-ness to its most effectiveness, and as far as physicality goes, he kills it (pun partially intended). There are layers to his performance, too. It's not like he's this hot head that is constantly flipping out, he only goes to that point when it is necessary, even though you can tell that there is a storm brewing just beneath the surface.

Just like a cowboy, he has his code, and because he makes rational and sound decisions, it helps you connect with him right from the beginning. The setup works as well as the insanity at the end, but you wouldn't be able to have one without the other, and they complement each other in just the right way.

This is the movie that I wanted from Shot Caller, and Brawl in Cell Block 99 delivers the goods. Sure, it's playing by movie prison rules, but it is consistent and accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do.

It's also just well made, and it has a sound design to it that got audible reactions out of me with the appropriate snaps and crunches. This is extremely violent, especially at the end, but if that is what you came for, you're going to walk away feeling like you made good use of your time.