After covering Bone Tomahawk last week, it only felt right to dive into another S. Craig Zahler film. Brawl in Cell Block 99 is his follow-up to Bone Tomahawk and, for me, it’s his magnum opus to date. It’s got all the violence and gore we’ve grown to expect from Zahler, but it’s led by an absolutely sensational performance by Vince Vaughn. It’s his movie from the jump.
Vaughn brings a brooding, undercurrent of rage that palpitates throughout the film. He plays Bradley Thomas, who within the first few minutes of the film loses his job and finds out his wife (played by Jennifer Carpenter aka Debra Morgan from Dexter) is cheating on him. After letting out a fit of rage on his wife’s car in a scene that is so unnerving, Bradley decides he wants to fix things with his wife and go back to the life of crime he thought he had left.
The film takes a time jump from there to Bradley and Lauren (his wife) living very well. The two are even expecting their first child, which has Bradley on cloud nine. With everything going so well, you know the great fall is coming.
Bradley’s boss gets him to help out on a job that he doesn’t have a great feeling about. Bradley initially says no, but is tempted with paternity time, which no one gets in the drug game. Of course, the job goes to shit and Bradley finds himself behind bars. This is where the film takes a huge turn. Some really bad people are pissed that the job fell a part along with some choices Bradley made, leading them to threaten him with the craziest shit I’ve ever heard. When you get to this scene, you’re gonna straight up say something like “WHAT THE FUCK???”
Guaranteed. From here, we’re off to the damn races.
This is Vaughn’s film, but with a solid supporting cast including Carpenter, Udo Kier and DON FUCKING JOHNSON as a tough-as-nails warden. There is plenty to like aside from the absolute gem of a performance Vaughn brings.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video!
John Mosley is the independent wrestling and TV aficionado of the SoBros Network. He graduated from ETSU with a degree in Radio, TV and Film along with a minor in Film Studies. Since graduating he’s done pretty much nothing but watch, film, edit or commentate for local wrestling promotions and is the current color commentator for Resolute Wrestling. #Preds #Titans #DefendOrVacateConor. Follow on Twitter: @SoBroMose
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