sweeneytom

Mayhem!

What happens when a familiar story is told in a familiar way, with a slower pace for over half of it, but with more brutal violence, but with less than you've come to want from the director, but with more than you've seen from him in a while? Such is the conundrum I find with Mayhem!, a brand new film (from Frontier[s] director Xavier Gens) out today on VOD services and limited theaters. I don't know if I like it or hate it, am underwhelmed or satisfied, even half an hour later. 2 stars or 3, another Best Of entrant or my first Worst Of listing of the year A man trying to escape his past finds he can't, no matter where he goes. A person with anger who knows answers most often through his fists must stop running eventually. Especially when his new family becomes threatened and harmed. Like I said, familiar story. And it's one that's felt and told, with an alright supporting cast and an okay lead (Nassim Lyes, who I'm only familiar with in the similarly-okay-but-nothing-special Shudder-released Kandisha), for the first over-forty of these hundred minutes until we are left with the action stuff But my god, the action stuff. Frontier(s) is, for my money, Gens at his best and most brutal. Mayhem! doesn't compare in that; what it does is provide violence and kills at their most crisp and smooth. You'll see comparisons on the film's page to The Raid, and I wouldn't go that far with how impressive it is, but it's filmed in a way that's a clear homage and doesn't leave you regretting watching those scenes. If anything justifies the extra third star, it's the final battles, leaving you as worn down and exhausted as Lyes. (And no spoilers, but in 3021 films I've logged on here, this is the second or third time I've seen a death via that unique a weapon, and it's gotten a visceral reaction out of me each time) So I guess for now that's enough reason that I'll leave it at 3. I wish there'd been more or longer moments like that, or I wish it'd kicked into an extra gear like Frontier(s) made me know Gens was capable of. But I don't feel bad about the end-result right now at least. Definitely better than The Divide