Hellion (2014)

I love this movie so much

People are voting emotionally.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

As I was scouring Sky for an entertaining, captivating film to watch, I stumbled across Hellion, expecting it to fill all my expectations considering it was found under the thriller section. Yes, THRILLER. I found it incredibly dull for a "thriller", as it has an incredibly slow paced plot. For those who are interested in your standard "artsy" film that achieves awards in film festivals, this is the film for you. However, for persons like myself, who enjoy plot twists, adventure and snippets of comedy, this is not the film for you. Despite my criticisms, I have to commend the performances in the film, as both the young boys and Aaron Paul portray a family's suffering after experiencing bereavement skilfully. Jacob (the eldest in the film) specifically, depicts a confused, emotional teen perfectly and shows great potential. I also admit, the story does highlight the issues brought about by tragedy and loss tremendously. But the entire film feels rather gloomy and negative. However, I feel that the plot would be better suited for a short film, as there appeared to be a lot of unnecessary scenes, which I reiterate, those into "artsy" films may enjoy. I warn you now though, those who enjoy entertaining films that contain slightly more captivating plots, do not attempt to watch it, you'll get bored.

Texas-based filmmaker Kat Candler delivers a great dramatic story with excellent performances by her actors in her feature film 'Hellion', which is based off of her 2012 short film of the same name. I love when director's get the opportunity to tell their full story on screen from previous short, and 'Hellion' is sure to have audiences talking about it for days to come. Director Jeff Nichols, whose previous film was the award-winning 'Mud', served as executive producer for 'Hellion', which is fitting, because both feature a couple of young adolescent boys in serious adult situations. While some of 'Hellion's script has a few problems, it makes up for it ten-fold with its directing and acting.We meet 13-year old Jacob Wilson (Josh Wiggins), as he getting into some serious trouble with a group of friends and is caught by the police. The authorities tell him this is his last chance to be a better teenager before he is sentenced to a juvenile detention center. His father Hollis (Aaron Paul), feels like he has failed Jacob and his younger son Wes (Deke Garner) as well, due to the death of his wife, which has caused him to be emotionally and physically absent from his boy's lives. He spends his days either drinking or trying to fix up his beach house in Galveston so that he and his two sons can start over from scratch, but he never seems to get his act together, which is a trait that is passing down to young Jacob.Meanwhile, Hollis's sister Pam (Juliette Lewis), receives custody of Jacob and Wes due to Hollis's unavailability, which causes a strife between everyone. When Jacob is not getting into trouble with his dead-beat friends or looking after his brother, he is practicing for motor-cross race competition, which seems like the only thing he cares about. But underneath this hardened skin is a gentle soul who want his family back together and not a laughing stock of the small South-Eastern Texas town.What Candler does well here is capture these two boys and their father's unconditional love for one another, even though they don't wear it on their sleeve. And much like the iconic film 'Stand By Me', 'Hellion' shows a dark and beautiful coming-of-age story about brothers and friends sticking together no matter what obstacle comes their way. With all of these character's faults, you still root for them at their lowest points and at their highest points.However, there are a few instances in the script where momentum and tension is not being delivered or built, which causes some pacing problems. There is a violent climatic scene that doesn't pack the punch it needs to, because of how things are handled stylistically and editorially. And the buildup to this moment was almost non- existent.That being said, 'Hellion' delivers on a good story and its excellent performances. I'm sure we will see Josh Wiggins and Aaron Paul winning awards for this soon. And Candler proves she has an incredible eye for capturing the raw and realistic moments of a struggling family who wants a better life. The chemistry between Jacob and Wes is uncanny. This dark coming-of-age film is definitely worth seeing.

Retribution is a very difficult film to get into as it seems devoid of both point and purpose for almost its entire running time. It eventually boils down to a father losing custody of his youngest son due to his unruly behaviour and due to the behaviour of his oldest son Jacob.The big problem with this film is basically down to how it's actually been set up; this very thin story is about the failings of the father as a parent so therefore you would assume that most of the focus would be on the father himself, but the writers offer very little insight into Hollis as a character - it might have helped if the writers would have fleshed Hollis' character out more in order to make us understand his behaviour. It's mentioned that his wife has died and that he used to be a baseball star etc, but again these are just little threads that are mentioned, but I felt could have been expanded on more. It's very hard for me to get involved in a film when writers don't develop characters as I generally find that I won't care for a film if I'm given no reason to. The film also jumps around all over the place and just rambles on and on until eventually we get to the 'point' of the film about 10-15 minutes from the end. Aside from the father, the rest of the characters are rather one-note and shallow and as I've already mentioned this was a very hard film for me to care about.The film has a sub-plot involving his eldest son competing in a motor-cross competition which didn't really go anywhere and seemed kind of pointless. The only positive thing I can say about this film is that Aaron Paul was excellent and did everything he could with the material that he was given to work with. However that is the only good thing about this truly terrible film.

HELLION (2014) ** 1/2 Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Dalton Sutton, Camron Owens, Dylan Cole, Jonny Mars. Well-acted domestic drama about a family fumbling through their grief over the sudden loss of the mother with her husband (Paul, low-key yet very affective) drinking his pains away and their sons (Wiggins, a natural and equally affective turn, who reminds me of a young Kevin Bacon, and Garner), the eldest the titular end result. Lewis is equally low-key as the concerned aunt. While filmmaker Kat Candler elicits fine work from her actors the script leaves much to be desired and more fleshed out. While there are so many outlets for the characters to explore each road feels abandoned.