Review of John Doe: Vigilante (2014) by Harry W — 31 Jul 2016

As with any film released under the Monster Pictures label, John Doe: Vigilante sounded lke a fun experience of exploitation.

John Doe: Vigilante has a trifecta of hooks for me; not only is it a Monster Pictures film, but it's also an Australian production and a story of a vigilante. Given that I'm an action junkie who has proven a sucker for films such as Death Wish (1974) and Hobo With a Shotgun (2011), there was a real generic contract being offered by this film which seemed to be targeted directly at me. Alas, it didn't take the path I was expecting. Instead, John Doe: Vigilante takes the route of the television series Dexter (2006-2013) and tracks the story of a serial killer who picks off his enemies based on a moral compass, opting to pursue more of a content-driven film than an action one. Given that Australia has a good track record for crime cinema there is a lot of potential with John Doe: Vigilante. Unfortunately, its ambitions are blunted by a script which is a little too amateur to capitalize on its concept.

John Doe: Vigilante is a film which really has potential. Injustice in the crime system is a concept which will never stop being relevant because it's an issue which has an endless existence in the world, and there have been films that have attempted to confront it many times. With John Doe: Vigilante, the film attempts to do that while also functioning as a spectacle of violence. Clearly a low-budget film, John Doe: Vigilante manages to capture some stylish moments of violence which use a variety of camera techniques to give audiences an intense voyeuristic perspective on things where our perspective is taken from diegetic cameras much of the time. With a small collection of locations illuminated by the use of shadow and mediated lighting, there is an effective backdrop to the film which provides a dark locale while there is a slight touch of blood and gore to confront the violent concepts without getting excessive. For its budget, there is certainly an effective use of imagery during the more intense moments of the film while the subtle touch of the musical score helps to enrichen the atmosphere. However, this provides a modicum of value to the film when considering that it lacks much finesse in its actual narrative.

John Doe: Vigilante does not idolize its titular character. While the story clearly sides more with the notion that criminals deserve harsher punishment, it isn't a one-sided tale. We are reminded that criminal is a type of behaviour perpetrated by human beings, and each human comes with their own story or family. This is only touched upon lightly in the film so it doesn't drag the film into territory of excess sentimentality, but there are still an abundance of ways that the story crumbles into mediocrity.

Above all, its the annoying story structure that really burdens the film. The story cuts between the sight of John Doe committing crimes on people and others discussing the morals of it all, and this gimmick prevents the narrative from ever developing. We don't get an understanding of the titular character, just an idea of him. Everyone in the film is an idea without having any actual characterization to them, so what is being said proves to be more interesting than who is saying it. But even then, it just feels like we're getting the same basic message drilled into our heads again and again. With one-dimensional characters putting such a black and white perspective on the idea of crime, the entire experience feels like a series of disjointed lectures against the backdrop of sporadic violence. There is always room in the world for a discussion like that which John Doe: Vigilante approaches and the fact that it touches upon the idea of a movement being influenced by vigilantes has room for some really insightful social commentary. Unfortunately, nothing is done with this theme and it is played off as an arbitrary plot point. There really could have been a lot done with this because audiences should be encouraged to ask the question of when a movement turns into a terrorist organization given that contemporary society is consistently held under a threat of media reports of Islamic State activity. The fact that John Doe: Vigilante mentions this and then tosses it aside is a display of wasted potential; a lollipop given to a child and taken away after one lick just so that they may suffer the loss. Why Kelly Dolen and Stephen M. Coates would tease us with this is beyond me as a logical thinker but plain frustrating as a viewer.

Ultimately, the film cannot decide what is the correct thing to do about changing crime and simply tells audiences to do the thinking for them without providing much of a thought pattern to follow. The entire message in the film is epitomized by John Doe's final speech; a cry for help to audiences to realize that there is a real problem in the justice system and that its up to the public to take a stand. But much like the dialogue in the final speech, the entire experience of John: Doe Vigilante is too uninspired to set off any major motion in viewers. The fact that the film falls back on its dialogue all too often means that John Doe: Vigilante is essentially Australia's answer to Robert Redford's negatively received drama thriller Lions for Lambs (2007). Both films oscillate between characters caught up in an intense life-threatening situation and others talking about the politics involved. Neither films hit their mark all that well and simply stretch on to feel far longer than they actually are, and this says a lot when considering that John Doe: Vigilante only runs for 93 minutes.

In the end, John Doe: Vigilante has some decent ideas and displays that Kelly Dolen knows how to use style to a film's benefit. Unfortunately, the film spends too much time falling back on its boring dialogue to drive things, and it affects the potential of the performances. Nobody really makes any kind of an impact with their performances in John Doe: Vigilante. Jamie Bamber's effort as the titular character is largely blunted by the disjointed structure which keeps cutting between points in John Doe's life and never providing much insight into the actual person he is. The man displays a modicum of intensity at the right moments, but there are far too few of them in the film. And Daniel Lissing's most memorable moments are the news reports he delivers with such campy dialogue that it seems to be a self-parody. If it is, the humour doesn't work. And if it isn't, then the standard for dramatic content in John Doe: Vigilante doesn't sink much lower than this.

John Doe: Vigilante has some stylish imagery in its more violent moments and touches upon a concept worthy of discussion, but its reliance on concept prevents it from sourcing any intelligent content in the screenplay which bogs the narrative down into a poorly structured series of lectures delivered by one-dimensional perpetrators of boredom.