It is fair to say to nobody was expecting this.
The Wedding Planners. Starsky & Hutch. Dodgeball. The Internship. Couples Retreat. The Break-Up. Anchorman. Old School.
Vince Vaughn is kind of synonymous with being a friendly, funny guy, and despite his dalliances with blockbusters (The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and horrors (The Cell, the ill-conceived Psycho remake), we were sure that Vaughn had found his comfort zone and was staying in for the foreseeable future.
Turns out we were wrong, as he has taken on the lead role in the new movie by the writer/director of Bone Tomahawk (which is on Netflix, and is brilliant, so you need to watch that ASAP if you haven’t already), and Brawl In Cell Block 99 looks about as far from his comfort zone as we can imagine.
Vaughn plays Bradley Thomas, a former boxer turned drug runner who ends up in prison when a deal goes south. That is far from the end of it though, as a riot kicks off in the prison, with the sole intention being nothing more than one big distraction from Bradley getting killed by a rival gang.
The film has just been released in the States, and while there is no official release date for Ireland and the UK, we imagine we won’t be waiting too long for it to hit the big screens here.
So far, Stateside critics are absolutely loving it, scoring 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and it has got us very excited:
“Vaughn is so committed and so unrecognisable here, he actually convinces his rapt audience that a murderous rampage through the penitentiary system is a brilliant idea.” – New York Post
“Brawl In Cell Block 99 – and boy, does that title only tell part of the story – is a modern late night movie classic.” – Den Of Geek
“This painstakingly paced thriller displays an intensity of purpose that makes it impossible to dismiss as well-executed trash.” – New York Times
“Brawl in Cell Block 99’s economy of storytelling is as efficiently brutal as the eventual skull-crackings.” – Slant Magaine
“Brawl In Cell Block 99 takes a bit to get started, but when it does, it’s a punishing spiral into the depths of exploitation madness too gory to believe.” – We Got This Covered
You can check out the trailer right here:
Clip via Zero Media
