I expected this film to be in the vein of those early 1980s urban vigilante films such as Ms 45 or The Exterminator. A schlock B movie trying to say something important but just gives you more violence that it wants to decry.
Australian actor Josh Lawson plays Aidan a crime photographer working in Detroit. He is a recovering alcoholic and prone to fantasies where he takes on minor criminals and gets applauded by the public.
Aidan has has a relationship with a young girl at the same apartment block, Virginia (another Australian actress, Emma Lung). The relationship makes him happy and confidant but it threatens to be short lived. Ron Perlman plays a police detective who is also a recovering alcoholic and who he also confides in as they meet up regularly in crime scenes.
Aidan decides enough is enough and acts out his fantasies by taking on some low life villains but finds out being the vigilante man is not easy. Things take an unsavoury turn when he gets involved in a tussle with Virginia's boyfriend Pete (Edward Furlong) that leads him to bewilderment.
Its clear Aidan is a loner, unsociable and damaged. He usually says the wrong things to Virginia and has retreated to his fantasy life where he hears voices.
A director such as Abel Ferrara would had made this film entertaining with some added social comment and it would had gathered a cult appeal. However what we have here is an overlong low budget film that meanders and gets nowhere fast. Half way through you realise that the film has another hour to go and you already think that its gone on for two hours.
I cannot fault the actors who do their best with the material but the screenplay is poor and the direction is pedestrian.
Australian actor Josh Lawson plays Aidan a crime photographer working in Detroit. He is a recovering alcoholic and prone to fantasies where he takes on minor criminals and gets applauded by the public.
Aidan has has a relationship with a young girl at the same apartment block, Virginia (another Australian actress, Emma Lung). The relationship makes him happy and confidant but it threatens to be short lived. Ron Perlman plays a police detective who is also a recovering alcoholic and who he also confides in as they meet up regularly in crime scenes.
Aidan decides enough is enough and acts out his fantasies by taking on some low life villains but finds out being the vigilante man is not easy. Things take an unsavoury turn when he gets involved in a tussle with Virginia's boyfriend Pete (Edward Furlong) that leads him to bewilderment.
Its clear Aidan is a loner, unsociable and damaged. He usually says the wrong things to Virginia and has retreated to his fantasy life where he hears voices.
A director such as Abel Ferrara would had made this film entertaining with some added social comment and it would had gathered a cult appeal. However what we have here is an overlong low budget film that meanders and gets nowhere fast. Half way through you realise that the film has another hour to go and you already think that its gone on for two hours.
I cannot fault the actors who do their best with the material but the screenplay is poor and the direction is pedestrian.