Big Bad Wolves (2014)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Just perfect...

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A few years ago I saw the film Rabies (2010) which was notable for being the first horror film to emerge from Israel. This fact made it instantly quite interesting, the movie itself was more decent than great although it did have the distinctive factor of being a maniac-in-the-woods film where the killer is not all that important and is merely a catalyst for a tide of criminal and homicidal behaviour carried out by all the other 'innocent' characters. So it was a film that did present a familiar story in an unusual way, which is exactly what its directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado have done with their follow up Big Bad Wolves. The story here has a young girl go missing during a game of hide and seek. The chief suspect is taken to an abandoned warehouse and roughly questioned by police. The damaging footage is secretly filmed and put on the internet and the cop who had exacted the most violence on the suspect is taken off homicide; this leads him to go rogue, kidnap the suspect and try to force a confession out of him. The situation gets far more volatile when the father of the murdered girl turns up and enacts his own even fiercer brand of vigilantism.This could have been a typical serial killer thriller but what makes it a bit unusual is that the audience are never at any point told just why the police or the vengeful father are so convinced that the suspect is the child killer. By withholding this information the film-makers create a tension that plays upon our uncertainty. It makes the torturous interrogation methods used seem horrendous and it makes us think that the accused should be given a fairer hearing. Quite cleverly, this decision strips us of any pre-conceived ideas and takes away a lot of inbuilt prejudice that many of us would carry into a highly unpleasant case involving a potential paedophile child killer, the result is it makes us more clearly question both the vigilante and heavy-handed police methods. As it transpires in the story, the torture doesn't actually ultimately help find the dead or missing girl.I would definitely consider this movie a step up from Rabies (2010). Quentin Tarantino had even declared it his favourite film of 2013, which I don't think it would be unfair to say is certainly something of an overstatement. Nevertheless, it is an interesting thriller that leads its audience down a carefully planned path that makes them question certain impulses and assumptions. I'm not so sure, however, on the use of black comedy here though. It felt a bit out of place considering the grim nature of the subject matter underpinning events. Still, I guess it did alleviate what could otherwise have been exceptionally full-on material. There are instances of some very wince-inducing violence it has to be said, although it stops short of truly going into torture-themed horror territory. It's more of a very dark thriller about three bad fathers. It ends on an unusual low-key but nihilistic tone, which admittedly makes us then reassess our judgements from earlier yet again and some actions that beforehand had seemed very bad now seem a lot more justifiable. Yeah, this deceptively simple movie is one that gets you thinking alright.

Great crime-thriller from Israel.Starts like a typical vigilante movie, but then develops into something more. It's a whodunnit and a dark drama, all with some very funny, witty moments. The funny, hip dialogue in the middle of some pretty violent scenes reminded me of the style of Quentin Tarantino.Good plot, with some decent, deliberate red herrings and a very good twist at the end. Not perfect - some gaps and unanswered questions remained at the end. The way some things happened were also just a bit too neat.As mentioned, great dialogue. Very funny at times.Solid direction. Tension is built and maintained well.Good performances all round.

The only thing horrible about this movie are the jokes. They are so bad you feel ashamed for the writer/director.This movie is really painful to watch: Story is totally predictable and dumb, when the movie is supposed to be funny you just think "jeeeeesus" i feel so embarrassed. There is no surprise in the story and you look the whole time on your watch when is this over...The Character of this movie are so dumb that it really hurts. This is the worst movie i have seen this year...For the gore/splatter freaks: Its still a BIG disappointment. If you are interested in graphic violence you will think this movie was made for your grandmother. There is nothing shocking at all in this movie. If SAW is a 10 then this movie is a 1 in terms of shocking scenes.

"Big Bad Wolves" had topped a lot of 2013's best of lists and it's really far from the worst films of 2013, realistically it falls somewhere in the middle. Stylistic, charming, and great character acting highlight a sort of "who-dun-it" for dummies and I say that in the least offensive way possible. It doesn't take an Agent Starling to figure out who the culprit is though for some reason...many people didn't seem to figure it out...though the movie all but spells it out for you. So not being much, if any of a mystery, what genre does this movie fall in too? A comedy-revenge- lightweight thriller? Sure, I'll go with that. For such a brutal subject (child killer/pedophile) the characters are very charming and though we do know who did what...the actor playing the scumbag gives a convincing performance in the role he portrays. With such a small cast and not much drama, after the charm burns off in the first hour or so, I found myself wondering when this is going to wrap up...never a good sign. The movie ends sort of flat and uneven and I felt it was rather anti-climatic. Good for a rental I suppose and could make your top ten list of 2013 if you've seen very few movies that year. Tarentino really thought this was 2013's best movie though? That's probably the biggest surprise of all with this movie.