I got to watch Brawl in Cell Block 99 after previously seeing Bone Tomahawk and Dragged Across Concrete. I am a big fan of both movies and was looking forward to seeing this one since it appears to be the best-reviewed of Zahler's three movies. Unfortunately, after an almost stellar first half, the movie suddenly delves into the nonsensical and loses most of its charm.
Craig Zahler has a tendency to write dialogue that is overly snappy and somewhat unnatural-sounding. Out of his trio of movies, I feel like this one is the worst offender. Despite this, Cell Block 99 has a great first half. The depiction of "the Fridge" is quite realistic as far as I can tell and succeeds in creating the dreary atmosphere of jail.
As soon as Bradley is transferred to Red Leaf, however, things suddenly change for the worse. Realism goes completely out the window. I find it very hard to believe that such a prison can actually exist, which hurts the believable dreariness that we had seen previously. What follows is a series of ludicrous action scenes. I believe that this turn was a deliberate decision, but it doesn't work. It feels like two different movies - one great, the other pretty bad.
Craig Zahler has a tendency to write dialogue that is overly snappy and somewhat unnatural-sounding. Out of his trio of movies, I feel like this one is the worst offender. Despite this, Cell Block 99 has a great first half. The depiction of "the Fridge" is quite realistic as far as I can tell and succeeds in creating the dreary atmosphere of jail.
As soon as Bradley is transferred to Red Leaf, however, things suddenly change for the worse. Realism goes completely out the window. I find it very hard to believe that such a prison can actually exist, which hurts the believable dreariness that we had seen previously. What follows is a series of ludicrous action scenes. I believe that this turn was a deliberate decision, but it doesn't work. It feels like two different movies - one great, the other pretty bad.