Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

zdoshi Like most of the American population, I chose this movie because I'm a Breaking Bad fan. I know Aaron Paul as Jesse, a more or less, kid. In this movie, I couldn't believe that it was Pinkman as somebody's...dad. He nailed it! The kids were great actors as well. This movie was so emotional and you felt uncomfortable so many times. Not uncomfortable because the movie was "disturbing", more like uncomfortable because this could be anyone's family, even yours. Even good people can just lose their mind in the face of tragedy.The movie doesn't need a fast paced story to keep you on the edge of your seat. You can't help but get invested so much in the characters. The ending is perfect.

jimbo-53-186511 Retribution is a very difficult film to get into as it seems devoid of both point and purpose for almost its entire running time. It eventually boils down to a father losing custody of his youngest son due to his unruly behaviour and due to the behaviour of his oldest son Jacob.The big problem with this film is basically down to how it's actually been set up; this very thin story is about the failings of the father as a parent so therefore you would assume that most of the focus would be on the father himself, but the writers offer very little insight into Hollis as a character - it might have helped if the writers would have fleshed Hollis' character out more in order to make us understand his behaviour. It's mentioned that his wife has died and that he used to be a baseball star etc, but again these are just little threads that are mentioned, but I felt could have been expanded on more. It's very hard for me to get involved in a film when writers don't develop characters as I generally find that I won't care for a film if I'm given no reason to. The film also jumps around all over the place and just rambles on and on until eventually we get to the 'point' of the film about 10-15 minutes from the end. Aside from the father, the rest of the characters are rather one-note and shallow and as I've already mentioned this was a very hard film for me to care about.The film has a sub-plot involving his eldest son competing in a motor-cross competition which didn't really go anywhere and seemed kind of pointless. The only positive thing I can say about this film is that Aaron Paul was excellent and did everything he could with the material that he was given to work with. However that is the only good thing about this truly terrible film.

Victoria Cumberbatch I had no expectations going into this film; I hadn't even read the plot summary. This was a film that had you shout predictability until what I thought would be the climax, came entirely too early and I realized...I had no real idea what was ahead. I found myself having little tolerance or care for Jacob throughout most of the movie, whereas I was overcome with emotions when it came to little Wes. Jacob ended up stealing my heart however and I was surprised at the director's ability to do this. I noted this as an "explosion" because the build up was serious! It's a common story in much of America, but truly shot in a way that the viewer finds riveting, emotional, and genuine. The acting, from the CPS counselor to Wes, was truthful and accurate. Facial expressions and moments of silence between characters can usually spill the guts on who's new to the game, and I just didn't find that here. A low budget film that will probably not get much viewership, but those that take the time out will not be disappointed.

george.schmidt HELLION (2014) ** 1/2 Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Dalton Sutton, Camron Owens, Dylan Cole, Jonny Mars. Well-acted domestic drama about a family fumbling through their grief over the sudden loss of the mother with her husband (Paul, low-key yet very affective) drinking his pains away and their sons (Wiggins, a natural and equally affective turn, who reminds me of a young Kevin Bacon, and Garner), the eldest the titular end result. Lewis is equally low-key as the concerned aunt. While filmmaker Kat Candler elicits fine work from her actors the script leaves much to be desired and more fleshed out. While there are so many outlets for the characters to explore each road feels abandoned.