Streaming: "Brawl in Cell Block 99"
Saturday, November 4, 2017 at 7:00PM by Ben Miller
Everything does not have to be filet mignon. Sometimes, you just want a hamburger. There is nothing wrong with a burger, and it can be really well made. There’s a difference between the two and burgers will not be any good if you expect them to be filet mignon.
The new film from director S. Craig Zahler, Brawl in Cell Block 99, is a great burger. And like any great burger, there are so many chances for it to go very wrong, very quickly...
Vince Vaughn stars as Bradley (don’t call him Brad), who is laid off from his blue-collar job and discovers his wife (Jennifer Carpenter) has been cheating on him. Bradley goes back to his previous life of drug-running to support his wife and save his marriage. 18 months into this life, things are going pretty well. Bradley’s wife is pregnant and he can’t wait to be a dad.
When Bradley’s boss, Gil sets up a deal with a Hispanic dealer Eleazar (Dion Mucciacito), Bradley makes a deal for time off for the baby to go through with the deal. It doesn’t go well, and Bradley is sent to a medium-security prison.
As far as prisons go, this one doesn’t seem so bad. There’s a cameo from Fred Melamed as a feisty admissions guard and a helpful trustee named Lefty to help with whatever Bradley needs. Bradley seems content to serve his time and return to the world, but he soon gets a visitor (Udo Kier!!!) who works for Eleazar and tells him that unless he kills a prisoner held in a maximum security prison in cell block 99, Bradley’s wife and unborn child will be killed.
This film could go off the rails so badly at every opportunity. Bradley is a bald-headed white guy with a huge cross tattoo on his head. The threat of alt-right anti-Semitism is waiting around every corner. Luckily, Bradley is more of an ideal of blue-collar masculinity. In an early scene, Gil mentions how much he likes a black client and calls him the n-word, but can’t figure out if he ends it with an –er or an –a. Bradley points out that it’s probably not okay for him to say it either way.
Bradley doesn’t seem to care about race, he just cares about what he needs to get done. If he has to beat the hell out of a Mexican prisoner, so be it. Black guard or white guard; whatever gets the job done. The only time he ever shows any racial prejudice is during said fight with the Mexican prisoner, when he is trying to prove his meddle in a very tough place.
You also have characters like Don Johnson’s prison warden. On first appearances, he seems like a Joe Apario-like maniac who treats every prisoner like an animal. With a little bit of perspective, you realize the warden is treating Bradley like the terrible human he is acting like he is. As soon as Bradley receives his marching orders, he does whatever he can to get from A to B. This includes beating up a guard and snapping his arm. He hospitalizes another before being transfers. Although we know why he is doing what he is doing, it makes him seem terrible to anyone else.
Vaughn as a heavy should not work. He was originally known for his sarcastic wiry frame, but when you get him in a little bit of shape, add the weight and drop the wit (added to the fact that Vaughn is 6’5”), he is incredibly imposing. He flows through each situation with precision and singular focus. No remorse is ever shown for his actions, because his actions are always justified by the end game.
It’s not always just beating and bruising. After Bradley is initially arrested, there is a fantastic “interrogation” scene with Vaughn and a detective played by veteran TV character actor Clark Johnson. The scene touches on themes of patriotism, prosecution and loyalty and is a real highlight. Everything works like it needs to, especially the title brawl, featuring some impressively visceral deaths. It takes a good bit of time to get there, but the film moves at a steady pace and never feels overstuffed.
Following up on his magnificent western Bone Tomahawk, Zahler's is a new and unique perspective in cinema, giving guys like Vaughn a chance to shine in a role he wouldn’t usually be given a chance to play. This Brawl is no steak, but it’s a delicious burger.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 is now available to stream on Amazon Video.
Reader Comments (2)
I loved this, and I thought Vince Vaughn’s performance was revelatory.
I’ve never thought much of his attempts to stretch or play dark before (Psycho, Domestic Disturbance, True Detective, nope, nope, nope), but this boils him down to his presence, his intelligence, and a clear, emotion-driven, B-movie set of wants that seem to amplify and sharpen his delivery and his imposing physicality. And there’s tricky delicacy to the way he - and the film itself - has to balance brute force and a depth of unsentimental tenderness.
In this and Bone Tomahawk, I’ve been impressed with Zahler and his ownership of and obvious love for ostensibly “low” material - he luxuriates equally in straight jolts of jaw-dropping gore and in long scenes of dialogue where actors get to patiently reveal characters, relationships, methodologies, and stakes.
There’s no reason, on paper, that this movie should work at all - but on its own grimy terms, it sings.
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