Bruiser (2000)

Best movie ever!

Am I Missing Something?

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Synopsis: It is about a guy who works in a job with a crappy boss who is not good to anyone, a wife that cheats on him and a good friend that steals money from him. He start off imagining he kills people that treats him bad. You really feel this guy has some very big anger building up inside. Actually he feels that everybody around him treats him bad. He wakes up one day after a party, finding out the white mask he created on the party is stuck to his face. And the anger breaks loose. Acting: Jason Flemyng did the best performance in this movie by far the way he change from miserable to anger is great. He have done a lot of movies in his career. To name a few like Lock, stock and two smoking barrels (1998), Snatch (2000), Transporter 2 (2005), Stardust (2007). Peter Stormare the well known Swedish actor. Also did a pretty good job in this movie as the very bad boss. Just did not care about anything. To name some of his big list of movies like Fargo (1996), The lost world: Jurassic park (1997), Hamilton (1998), Prison break the TV series (2005). He have also been voicing the mercenaries games. Leslie Hope did nothing big but a very decent job in this movie. She have also done her part in movies but nothing very big, maybe mostly known for her role in the TV series '24'. Nina Garbiras did nothing very special performance in this movie. Have done some roles outside of this one, mostly in TV series like Leap Years (2001), Boomtown (2002). Cinematography: Most of the filming was shot in Toronto and Ontario, Canada. Was a good location to film this movie nothing to point out as bad about it. The setting was OK. Nothing big in the camera work but Romero is not known much for his camera work. Make-up: In this category I usually point out costumes and makeup but in these kinds of movies it is better to just talk about makeup. The main thing here is the mask it is very well done actually. But now we talk about man behind the zombie genre the master of masks and make-up. So the mask here is awesome and it is mostly it to mention.Music/Sound: The music here is great and Romero actually did make a video earlier in his career for the band who play in this film. So they made 2 original songs for him and played them in the party scene in this movie. That is pretty awesome. The sound mixing is forgettable but it fits in with the scenes pretty well. And makes a good tension for the movie. Summary: We can start off saying this is George A. Romero's better works since the awesome zombie flicks he made. Like Night of the living dead (1968), Dawn of the dead (1978), Day of the dead (1985). I would not call this a major horror movie though. It is tipping more over to the thriller genre with horror elements in it. It is only one thing that made the rating from me this low and that is the way the movie progresses later on. I would have liked it to go in the same direction as it started off because that was really amazing. If I should point out some similar movies if you liked this one the first movie that comes to my mind is Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise, it is very similar actually. If you are a Romero fan you should absolutely try this one out. If you like a good thriller I don't really know if I would recommend it to all but it is pretty good, and worth a watch.

"I'm not in the media. I'm in the face business"Henry is a "nobody" whose life sucks ass. He works at a magazine company, with a lousy sleazoid of a boss, has a house that he cannot afford (and is unfinished, still needing renovations) and a gold digger wife who married him because she thought he was on the fast track to success, and, worst of all, awakens to find that his face is *gone*. Soon Henry discovers that his wife is screwing his boss, his best friend has been stealing money from him (Henry's wife was the one responsible for coming up with the scheme to siphon away hubby's income behind his back!), and his maid is taking the silverware while cleaning the house! Losing your face, your identity, in turn, causes Henry to lash out at those who have victimized him, saving the boss for last.George Romero's "Bruiser" (the film's title comes from the name of Milos Styles' magazine company) has another message that is less-than-subtle and has been considered the director's worst film by many of his fans. I have read for years how awful "Bruiser" is, but I didn't really find it too lousy, although there's nothing remarkable present either.The film condemns the wealthy, or at least the magazine industry, as soulless, heartless snobs, who seem to exist solely to remain profitable and successful. Styles, as evoked by Peter Stormare, is a despicable, crude, noisy clown who has a brash, poisonous air about him that wouldn't appeal to anyone if not for his position in life thanks to his magazine. One scene has Styles getting masturbated by Janine(Henry's wife) during a party at his home as Henry peers from afar in appropriate disgust.The film seems to insinuate that as Henry gets even with those who wronged him, his identity will return, to stop being a victim you can regain your dignity. I'm a bit indifferent towards the message: to use violence against those who have wronged you, to "stand up for yourself" (as Henry mentions at the end), you are no longer a "nobody", the blank face vanishes and a real human lies underneath. Flemyng, whose face isn't hidden under the white mask the first part of the movie, provides us with a somewhat sympathetic character who allows himself to be mistreated and duped by his wife, boss, and best friend, a film-flam man seemingly disabled of any desire to "climb the ladder" and rise above mediocrity. It's only when he takes a stand, that he can resurrect himself.The film ends with our "hero" once again in a lower level office position, which has me rather clueless as to the point Romero was trying to make to start with (sure he's not taking any crap from loud, debase employers who belittle and rip into their employees, but remains a lackey pushing a mail cart). Tom Atkins is ever so welcome as the cop out to catch the "faceless killer".A suicide victim, who shot himself while talking to a smart aleck radio DJ, is a recurring reminder to Henry that he can either remain where he is (always a victim) and put a bullet in his mouth, or no longer remain a member of the downtrodden. Leslie Hope is Milo's artist wife who puts up with his belligerent ways, but Henry spends time during the movie trying to convince her to leave him (she is also a suspect in the murder of Janine). The mask for Flemyng I thought was rather eerie, kind of reminded me of the Phantom of the Opera. Nina Garbiras is Henry's acid-tongued wife, Janine, with Andrew Tarbet as Henry's no-good friend (whose nice car, Henry soon learns, was purchased using the swindled cash). The finale is a showcase for the band The Misfits as Atkins and other police are trying to catch Henry, among the crowd of costumed freaks and goth/punk types congregating about as our hero pursues Milos (quite a laser light show; one particular laser can actually cut).

Peter Stormare is certainly more cleaned up than he was in Fargo, but as Milo, the racist, obnoxious, misogynistic boss of Bruiser magazine, he is off the charts. I imagine he will be on the top of Henry's (Jason Flemyng - Layer Cake, Transporter 2) list when things change. Especially when he sees his wife (the smoking hot Nina Garbiras) jerking him off. Maybe she will be first.Henry wakes the next day without a face. It isn't like he is not recognized, but he has a whole new personality. No longer a carpet, he is taking positive action against those who wronged him: his lousy boss, his cheating wife, and a friend who is ripping him off.What will happen when he is through? Will he be a changed man? Will the mask disappear? George A. Romero still gives us a good story. It may not be zombies, but it is food for thought. What would we do if we woke tomorrow with a new personality?

There is about 20 minutes of interesting movie here, in the opening preamble and in the grand guignol of the masquerade party. In between, this is poor.I love Romero films, for, amongst other things, their mixture of grotesque violence and gallows humour. With Bruiser, apart from the delicious viciousness of the set-up of our faceless non-hero, this provided some peculiar and unsatisfactory combination of Zorro and Death Wish, without atmosphere, coherence or even any real energy. Did the whole budget get blown on the set for the masquerade? I wanted to like it, was expecting to at least enjoy it in a time-passing way, and was only bored and frustrated by it.