Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

dwoolfe99 Just finished watching this movie about 10 minutes ago on Netflix, and I want to write this out while it's fresh in my mind. It wasn't until a few minutes after the credits rolled that I began to consider what it was that I disliked about it.The movie is well made. The photography, lighting, pacing, editing, and acting are all above average. This is a film maker who could make a stunning film with the right material.The plot has been described by other reviews. A "businessman" with unspecified ties to the US government is kidnapped while in Europe on business. He is held in an unspecified place, charged with unspecified crimes, and tortured in a progressively brutal fashion. Whoever wrote this screenplay is obviously a devotee of Kafka.The problem lies in the thematic content of the film, or actually, how the thematic content is expressed. The film embraces more or less three interlocking themes. They are: First, the idea that everything is theater and entertainment to the masses, not just including the suffering of others, but *especially* the suffering of others. This theme is not original in an of itself. It's echoed in films embracing such diverse settings as the Roman Coliseum in Gladiator, or the tortured rantings of Howard Beal in Network.Second, the observation that people will go to the worst, most barbaric extremes in service of an ideology or belief system to which they fanatically adhere. In his mind, the extremist believes he is morally justified in what he does. So what if he takes a man's eyes out with a spoon. His Enemy has done a million fold worse than this. This too is not entirely original but it is certainly a theme worth exploring.Third, we have the theme of sin, penance, and redemption, either in a religious or secular humanistic sense (the two are depicted as parallel). This is where the trouble lies. By the end of this movie, this man has had practically everything taken away from him, his body being taken apart piece by piece. At this point, no one cares what the man has or hasn't done, whether he was truly sincere when he read his scripted apology to his neighbors when he stole from them as a child, whether his business dealings were black, white or grey. None of this matters because the over the top cruelty of his tormentors has rendered him a pure, unmitigated victim. We are horrified and sympathize with him entirely. His kidnappers are are psychopaths with no redeeming qualities.This kind of simplistic emotional reaction from the viewer is less than a movie of this apparent thematic complexity suggests. This unending torture acts as a thematic bulldozer, causing everything else hinted at which may have been interesting about the movie to recede into the background. At the end, that's what you get, to feel pathos and nothing more.Creating a good thematic mix in a film is like cooking. All ingredients in their proper portion. Overdo one ingredient and it overpowers the rest and produces an unsatisfying brew.I recommend this to people who appreciate film-making for its craft, especially that done on a limited budget. For all others, well, you just read the review. Make up your own mind.

LordMittensXXIII This is definitely worth seeing. Aside from the violence, and the manner in which the writer chooses to write the viewer into the participation of the violence, this is a movie about ethical choices, and about the man being tortured. Flashes of his back story are interspersed with his imprisonment and torture, and you get the feeling that, regardless of the unfairness of his predicament, he is actually thinking about, and regretting, the choices he's made.True to a great many indie stories, this might not turn out the way you want, but it is a satisfying story.Fleshing out the movie are a couple of vocal antagonists, a man and a woman, who seem to play a "good cop, bad cop" game with the victim. The bearded man seems to know he is doing right because he is doing what most of the viewers want him to do, and he believes he has morality on his side. The moral overtones start to wear off, and it becomes clear that he is there because he is enjoying his role. The woman appears to want to help the victim. It's worth it if you have 90mins to kill.

ZombieSteak .com This movie is somewhat comparable to the SAW/Hostel type movie but in my opinion it was much better. Overall this movie was greatly produced and acted and I felt sucked into this movie almost from the start of it. The torture is horrible as most torture movies are but you feel so connected to this flawed main character you can't help but watch the whole time rooting for him to get back at his captures.I also have to give credit to the villain. His friendly and super polite manner just made him seem so much more wicked and evil. As he descended deeper into his madness he became out of control with anger but still kept his polite and friendly manner making you want to hate him more.I loved the lighting in this movie as well. Everything seemed so bright from his hospital looking prison to his flashbacks on life. Great movie overall, I enjoyed every second of it.ZombieSteak.com - Discover a new world of horror films, designed just for you.

sitabanu Watching this 'movie' was an awe-filled exercise in simulated audience participation. The viewer is quite aware - on one level - that it is a movie within a virtual reality show but on another level does prove - if one watches it to the end - that we are fascinated with pain as long as it is not our own to borrow a phrase from the writer. The truth of one statement certainly lingers..."Debt is better than any treaty," and finds its equally horrible juxtaposition that "Sin is nothing without judgment". I cannot say this was a likable movie and no doubt the lesson is as ironic as the statement "Being innocent didn't make anyone not get beat up." If nothing else the viewer goes on a philosophical journey into man's inhumanity to man's steps at civilization versus being civilized. Still appropriate and should remain so...but at some point won't we really have to get better at it?