Brawl in Cell Block 99

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Brawl in Cell Block 99
Original title Brawl in Cell Block 99
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2017
length 132: 33 (unabridged)
131: 29 (abridged) minutes
Age rating FSK 18 (shortened)
SPIO / JK (unabridged)
Rod
Director S. Craig Payer
script S. Craig Payer
production Jack Heller ,
Dallas Sonnier
music Jeff Herriott ,
S. Craig Zahler
camera Benji Bakshi
cut Greg D'Auria
occupation

Brawl in Cell Block 99 is an American prison or neo-noir film from 2017 with Vince Vaughn in the lead role. The film is about a middle-aged man who loses his job and then gets on the wrong track due to drug courier assignments and ends up in prison, where his problems worsen. The film contains extremely brutal scenes of violence and is therefore only permitted from the age of 18. The director of the film is S. Craig Zahler , who already celebrated a success with his previous film and directorial debut Bone Tomahawk (2015).

The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2017 and was released in US cinemas on October 6, 2017. In Germany, Brawl was released directly on DVD or Blu-ray in Cell Block 99 .

action

The former boxer and drug courier Bradley Thomas was fired from his job as a tow truck driver because the manager had to cut staff. When he arrives at home that same day, he catches his wife Lauren sitting in her car and talking to someone on the phone. He confronts her and finds out that she has a kiss mark on her neck. She then confesses to him that she has been cheating on him for three months. After a conversation, the two of them decide not to part ways, but instead to start all over again, but Bradley tells Lauren that he will temporarily work as a drug courier again in order to save money quickly enough because he also wants to get out of the house where they live, move out and buy a bigger, newer house.

18 months later, Lauren is pregnant and Bradley has been able to accumulate enough money through his criminal activities, because now they both live in a large and significantly more expensive house. Bradley, who usually works alone, is supposed to work with two new people on a new assignment. These two Mexicans belong to a drug boss named Eleazar and the latter is a "business partner" of Bradley's boss Gil. On this delicate job, Bradley and his two new accomplices, who are introduced to him as Roman and Pedro, are supposed to fish a load of crystal meth out of the sea. Bradley hesitates at first because he mistrusts Roman and Pedro, but then accepts the assignment after Gil promises to receive a large sum of money as a reward.

After everything went smoothly despite minor squabbles and the delivery of the drugs was safely pulled out of the sea, the police surprised them back on land. Roman and Pedro hide behind their car and start a shootout that kills a few police officers. Bradley initially flees towards the sea, but then turns back and decides to assist the police. He shoots Pedro, who is then shot by the police. Bradley also injures Roman, but survives. Bradley is caught by the police and arrested. After an interrogation in which Bradley refuses to testify, his wife Lauren visits him and Bradley tells her that he would understand if she divorced him. Lauren, however, assures him of her loyalty, no matter how high the prison sentence. Bradley expects four to five years in prison and is all the more shocked when the judge sentenced him to seven years.

Bradley arrives in a medium-security prison, and on his first night, his wife, Lauren, who is now home alone, is kidnapped by Eleazar's henchmen. The next day, Bradley receives a visit from a mysterious man named Placid Man who claims to work for Eleazar. He tells Bradley that they are holding Lauren in captivity and as evidence he shows him a picture of Lauren sitting tied up on a chair. Placid Man urges Bradley to kill an inmate named Christopher Bridge, otherwise the fetus will be surgically removed from Lauren's womb. Bradley sees no other chance and agrees. The catch is that Christopher Bridge is incarcerated in the private maximum security Redleaf Prison, so Bradley has to instigate fights to get transferred there, and that's exactly what he does: he beats himself up with the guards and breaks several bones.

Now he's one step closer to the target because Bradley is actually being moved to Redleaf. The local director Warden Tuggs proves to be a ruthless and tough dog and tells Bradley right at the beginning that he cannot pull off what he did in prison before. On his first day out, Bradley befriends an inmate who tells him that Christopher Bridge is being held in another, separate unit, known as Cell Block 99 . In order to be moved there, Bradley unceremoniously starts a fight with other inmates in the yard and breaks several bones until he is overpowered by guards, whom he also seriously injured.

Bradley's plan also works this time, because he is moved to Cell Block 99. This department is deep in the basement with no daylight and before Bradley is led into his cell, he is put on a belt that can be used for remote control electric shocks. In his new cell he inquires about the whereabouts of Christopher Bridge from another inmate, but the latter replies that there is no inmate with such a name. A few hours later, Bradley is taken to a large hall where Eleazar, Roman, and two other men are waiting for him. Eleazar's men beat up the cuffed Bradley, and Eleazar threatens Bradley to call Placid Man to have the baby removed.

Back in his cell, Bradley forges a plan by removing the insoles from his shoes and sliding them into the place on the belt from which the electric shocks originate. When he is later electrocuted again, he feels nothing and a short time later he is taken from his cell by two guards to bring him back to Eleazar, but Bradley attacks the guards in a brief moment of inattention and kills one of them Accidentally, he takes the keys from the other and forces him to go into his cell, then he locks the cell door, frees himself from his handcuffs and belt and goes to Eleazar and his men, who are surprised by Bradley because he is unexpectedly has not risen and comes without notice. In a brief skirmish, he kills Eleazar's men in the most cruel manner and then forces Eleazar to call Placid Man and release his wife, which he agrees to after his leg is broken. Bradley demands that Placid Man bring his wife to Gil and that Gil confirm Lauren's arrival personally on the cell phone. Again, Eleazar reluctantly obeyed. After Lauren is safely dropped off at Gil's estate, Gil shoots Placid Man and Lauren shoots the surgeon who was supposed to be removing the baby. Bradley talks to Lauren for a while and then ends the conversation, returns to his cell, into which he has dragged Eleazar, and executes him with several kicks on his head until his head falls off the rest of the body. Warden Tuggs now stands with other guards on the threshold of the cell door and asks Bradley to put his hands on his head and turn around, then Bradley is shot by Tuggs.

reception

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic 91%
audience 74%
Metacritic
critic 79
audience 7.2
IMDb

Brawl in Cell Block 99 received mostly positive feedback from the critics in the US media; Vince Vaughn was particularly praised for his portrayal, and critics in Germany also rated the film positively. On Metacritic , the film ranks 89th in the list of the best films of 2017.

“Brawl in Cell Block 99 is one of the most brutal films I've seen lately, nerve-wracking in its systematic destruction of flesh and bones, also because the economical use leaves viewers no escape, except through the gates of the cinema. There is no hope of dulling. The film is also damn good. "

- Jenny Jecke

"A powerful, sometimes drastic-brutal thriller, also thanks to the capable main actor, who takes an unusually large amount of time to develop the background of his character and provokes with an archaic image of men."

- Film service

At the Saturn Awards 2018 , the film was nominated as best thriller and Vaughn as best leading actor .

Publications

The film was released on October 26, 2018 as DVD and Blu-ray and was not approved for young people, but this first version, although approved for ages 18 and over, does not contain some scenes, and noises were removed from the Scenes of violence could have been heard. A Limited Uncut Mediabook with a 4K and a UHD Blu-ray was finally released in April 2019 and is completely uncut.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Authorization for Brawl in Cell Block 99 . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 178700-a / V). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ a b Brawl in Cell Block 99 at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed October 27, 2019
  3. ↑ a b Brawl in Cell Block 99 at Metacritic , accessed October 27, 2019
  4. ↑ Brawl in Cell block 99 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  5. ↑ Brawl in Cell Block 99 is an endurance test for viewers on moviepilot.de
  6. ↑ Brawl in Cell Block 99 on filmdienst.de