| "Vigilante" 1983, William Lustig Ah, the vigilante thriller. I'm a bit critically underqualified to speak on this sort of film. I haven't seen "Death Wish", nor any of its sequels. But here is a film that is so upfront with its intentions that it doesn't even come up with a title. It named itself after the genre, equivalent to a film coming out called "Slasher" or "Romantic Comedy" and somehow not being an ironic joke/spoof on said films."Vigilante" is a film far more honest than much of its revenge thriller brethren in that it <more> doesn't attempt to make any grand statement about the plight of modern life. It's not functioning as social criticism, and it's not trying to defend its actions It does have a marvelous opening monologue by Fred Williamson, and there's a har-har scene about a pimp complaining about the recession and the plight of the working man, but that's all . It's simply presenting a tale of a bad guy falling through the cracks, and a man making sure he catches him, but it doesn't want you to think. It just needs an excuse to begin the bloodshed.Amazingly for a film so honest about its desire for bloodlust, it's remarkably restrained and intelligent about its kills. It doesn't just have death after squib after murder, it knows the definition of tension and building, and it spaces them out to marvelous effect. The shotgun murder of Foster's son is brutal even for this sort of film, and the way it's shot frames it for maximum effect without being uncomfortable or direct. There's only about seven kills in the entire film, but they come along at perfect distances, and as filmed in lovely slow-motion, with the squibs here being filled to the brim, and it's just damn satisfying.There are some wonderfully framed shots, and the car chase late in the film is great fun, but on the whole, the direction is sort of choppy and the film feels strangely empty, and doesn't end where it really should. Acting-wise, Forster is mostly a blank slate, with most of the juicy dialogue going to Fred Williamson. The rest of the cast is a great who's who of NY ethnic hood stereotypes, but it's fun. Another thing working for the film is the insane John Carpenter's "Halloween" score. I imagine it would work better in an actual horror film, but it's definitely got the over-the-top '80s synths working overtime. The synth is versatile though, switching to triumphant '80s glory when Forster just ain't takin' sh-t anymore.By the way, I wonder if Dave Chappelle saw this film, because not only does the pimp's scene bring to mind the Wayne Brady sketch from "Chappelle's Show", but the prison scenes with Robert Forster have an eerie resemblance to similar scenes in "Half Baked", including its own Nasty Nate that attempts to accost our hero in both the cafeteria and showers, and its own Squirrel Master spiritual guru. Tarantino ain't the only one. {By the way, this was nominally for the Tarantino Quest, but I've learned that if the reference isn't obvious, it probably isn't there and it wasn't . I just wanted to watch the film regardless.} Overall, a surprisingly restrained yet satisfying film, and although I am far from being well-versed in the genre, I don't know that I'll ever find a better vigilante thriller than "Vigilante".{Grade: 7.75/10 B/B- / #15 of 25 of 1983} <less> |
