When it comes to the genre of drama, the vigilante film is an audience favorite. Why? Like a number of situations, the reasons certainly vary: people wanting to see unjust corrected, people being a victim of a horrific event and receiving no justice. Not sure, but whatever the reason is, audiences get hyped by these films. Many films have been produced about this subject: "Death Wish" '74, "Vigilante" '82, "Vigilante" '08, "Death Wish" '18 and others, but as long the system keeps failing society, these films will continue to be a part of our reflection of a problem that seemingly won't go away.
This is an action thriller which tells the story of young mother Riley North (Jennifer Garner) who awakens from a coma after her husband Chris (Jeff Hephner) and daughter Carly (Cailey Fleming) are killed in a brutal attack on the family. When the system frustratingly shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself from citizen to urban guerilla. Channeling her intense frustration into personal motivation, she spends the next five years in hiding honing her mind, body and spirit to become an unstoppable force-- eluding the underworld, namely a leader of a Mexican Cartel, Diego Garcia (Juan Pablo Raba), the LAPD, namely detectives Beltran (John Ortiz) and Carmichael (John Gallagher Jr.) and the FBI, namely agent Lisa Inman (Annie Honzeh)-- as she methodically delivers her personal brand of justice.
Others to round out the cast are Eddie Shin as FBI agent Li, Cliff "Method Man" Smith as Narcotics Detective Barker, Tyson Ritter as Homeless Sam, Ian Casselberry as Cortez, Richard Cabral as Salazar and Johnny Ortiz as Torres.
This was directed by a filmmaker whose very familiar with this kind of storyline, Pierre Morel ("District B13" '04, "Taken" '08, "From Paris with Love" '10, "The Gunman" '15, "Clan of the Cave Bear" (TV movie) '15) plus TV. Familiarity does have its benefits as it can be easy to be able to convince one's audience of the sincerity of the different character makeups. If you like this director's brand of filmmaking, you will be able to catch his "The New Mrs. Keller" which is in pre-production. It was effectively written by virtual newcomer, Chad St. John ("London Has Fallen" '16) plus a short. Even though vigilante films have been produced before, this was still fresh and original in that there were some twists and turns. Although there were some problems, such as it was confusing, at times, when the present time was going to the past and back again, especially near the beginning, and there was a slight slow area in the storyline, this script still soared--I haven't seen some seasoned writers as talented as St. John is. If this is as fresh as it is, I can't wait to see what he does with his "Replicas" which is completed and due to release this year.
I haven't seen Garner so physical in her others films as with this, and she shined as this hurting mother who loses her family so senselessly. You can simply feel her agony. This is a film certainly worthy of price of admission, because for the reasons it was made and what the filmmakers were attempting to convey to their audience, this ticks all the boxes. Academy Award worthy? No. Problems? Sure, but there is enough going on here to keep you glued to the screen.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 101mins.
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