Review of Green Room (2016) by Thomas B — 24 Mar 2018

***.

On a technical level, 'Green Room' is quite masterful. Beautiful cinematography, excellent effects and great direction make this one visceral, disturbing experience; and excellent performances from Anton Yelchin and Patrick Stewart also elevate the material. However, as I was watching, it became clear just what this was - a pure exploitation flick. Now, whilst there's nothing inherently wrong with this, a lack of interesting or fleshed out characters - perhaps with the exception of Stewart - mean that we as the audience have nothing to focus on other than the pure brutality of what's happening on screen. The most frustrating thing, which stops this movie from reaching its potential, is the execution of what could have been a really interesting plot. The concept of a group of innocents caught in the middle with a group of Neo-Nazi's, and their plight to survive could have been so much better than what we got here. The Neo-Nazi group, led by Stewart, are not developed at all. They are simply nasty people. The fact that they are Neo Nazi's could have been removed from the script altogether - because it doesn't really factor into the plot in any way. So, despite the display of some great craft from Saulnier and his team, the script doesn't allow for this interesting plot to reach its potential. It's not bad - but it could have been so much better.