Review of Green Room (2016) by Boogie B — 06 Jul 2016

**NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW**.

Green Room is the type of film where the plot alone automatically gets you invested. The film's plot is a punk-rock band battle murderous white supremacists, at a remote Oregon roadhouse. Suddenly, the band members stumble onto a horrific act of violence, and realize they made a terrible mistake. IT'S THE PUNKS V.S. THE NAZI'S! This movie is suspenseful, keeps you on edge, your eyes glued to the screen, gory, and overall a very good movie.

Green Room is the kind of film where the viewer is constantly asking themselves, "Well how can this get any worse?!" In my opinion, The film proves us wrong. What's worse for the characters, makes for a better story.

I believe that in this film, the characters do not make the best decisions. The director of Green Room himself, Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin) has even mentioned this. For instance, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed (that means dumb as fu%k). But, I wouldn't go to a Neo-Nazi rally, and then sing the song "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by The Dead Kennedys (cool song by the way). Their is literally a line, where a character says, "I think we should split up." Anyone, who has seen any horror movie ever, especially one from the '80s, will tell that is NOT a good move. I believe the director was just simply trying to reflect on humanity, and how everyday people would react in a situation like this.

In my opinion, even though the characters make some dumb decisions, along with some smart ones. Green Room keeps us invested with hope, help, and making us feel like we are solving a puzzle.

Furthermore, this film doesn't rely to much on backstory. the characters already come off as realistic, and everyday people, that most people would feel empathy for. This was a risky move by the director, and very few directors can make this work. However, in Green Room, I believe it does work.

The performances throughout this film are phenomenal. These Neo-Nazi's are downright scary. When you see them, or piss them off. It ends horribly for you. Honestly, it is like coming across a racist Michael Myers. They don't really shoot, but they have vicious dogs, knives, machetes, etc.

Patrick Stewart (X-Men movie series, Star Trek: The Next Generation) does well. On the other hand, I believe he could have done more. Don't get me wrong, he did very well. He is even delivering a charismatic performance behind a door, doing voice over. In my opinion, he could just have been like the Steve Jobs, Edward Norton in American History X or Bill Gates of Nazism, to come off as more villainous, evil, sick, etc.

My only small nit pick of a complaint was the ending. The film was so unique, and original. However, it ends very similarly to other movies we've seen before.

So these are my final Bitchin' Buddha thoughts on Green Room. I thought it was great! There are no real symbols, themes, deeper meanings throughout the movie. It's a simple plot, that we've seen before, survival or death. It's original, edgy, suspenseful, and a super movie. I beleive Green Room earns a...

4/5!

Thank you for reading and viewing. I hope you all have an amazing day as always. :).