Blunt Force Trauma (2015)

That was an excellent one.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Very tight and minimalist plot that builds directly to the climax of the movie. It was well thought out. There are five or six scenes in the movie centred around gunfighting, which are interesting for various reasons that usually have nothing to do with the 'sport' being depicted, and which I thought were very well done. As pointed out by another reviewer, one never feels any desire to be standing in a circle, so that was also well done. The film does not glorify the violence, or, leave you with the thought, for instance, that Kwantan's character is going to get out of any particular fight unscathed. As often happens in brutal sport films (e.g., Raging Bull, where this is done brilliantly), the violence is often a means for the characters to test, refine, explore, and purify themselves; cutting out all excess. However, in BFT it is presented in such a way that you know there is a basic lethality and lack of control to the sport: it could only appeal, for instance, if one considers spending life in a wheelchair an acceptable outcome of the testing.Ultimately, the movie is a character piece, and not, in its core, an action film. As such I admit I was not too interested in Freida Pinto's character during the first half, but by the ending she had essentially become the most interesting character, and one trapped in a surprising bind. Ryan Kwantan's character becomes more interesting as one discern's his chief features, but after a while, one hopes for some further development, and this simply does not come, at least, not directly in the shot scenes. Ultimately, the fixed nature Kwantan's essential character is a central point of the movie, and the consequences of that, indeed, are very well drawn.

If you get bruises, it means you felt something. For the longest times in this, it feels like ... nothing. While our main character struggles to explain what can not be explained, we get a second story line with the gorgeous and talented Freida Pinto. The ensuing love story is not the most believable you'll have seen. But it serves its purpose (killing time and establishing another character besides our main man).Unfortunately not many things work in its favor here. The ending (which seems blurred, but I guess if you look closely enough you might be able to see something and if you still care have an opinion about it) will split the opinion many viewers will have. Rightfully so I think. Watch it if you don't expect much ...

Overall a decent and entertaining movie, as long as you employ "Suspension of Disbelief," but I'll leave the technical critique for the end. It was good to see Kwaten again (the main character's brother, "Jason," from "True Blood") and for the limited number of lines he was given, he was convincing. The concept of the film itself is interesting, and although the plot wasn't fully developed, it does have inertia. Other stars: Freida Pinto was great, and particularly gorgeous in this, but if you're seeing this movie because of Mickey Rourke's on the billing, don't - he's in about 4 minutes of it.Technically flawed: The movie's central plot of a dueling circuit essentially relies on all the fresh-off-the-street competitors to be perfect shots, whilst quick drawing and firing rapidly, which would be a difficult task for even a top tier competition marksman under that kind of pressure (but not as absurd as "The Walking Dead" in that regard). On a similar note, many of the "fighters'" gun choices would go through the vests the others use, especially when they lack trauma plates (and why would they NOT use trauma plates???), but again, this can all be filed under "overly critical" and put aside in the viewer's mind. (That's not a spoiler, one example is seen at minute 3 when someone has a Desert Eagle, and it was also glimpsed in the trailer).

No spoilers. Just an old reference.When I was younger, there was a thing called a "shaggy dog story".This movie has A LOT going for it. It has good character development, for example.Good basic plot.Good (although each mostly simple) complications to the plot.Some elements of the action were never adequately explained.But in the long run: too many things were not explained in the context. Many things seemed to happen with no rational motivation behind them.They all did lead to the end... but not in any logical manner.So, then comes the climax..."Shaggy dog story".