A prominent pastor uncovers a dark and twisted underworld while searching for answers about his daughter's brutal murder.
The run-of-the-mill revenge thriller is eerily yet entertainingly remixed in Samuel Gonzalez Jr. and Bridget Smith's The Retaliators, which while struggling for a consistent tone is bolstered by Michael Lombardi's compelling central performance.
"When does a good man's sins make him bad?" an opening voiceover asks the audience, before a dutiful New Jersey minister learns of his daughter's horrific murder at the hands of a criminal. local. As the pastor searches for answers, he finds himself traveling down an increasingly dark and vengeful path, encouraged by a detective, Jed (Marc Menchaca), with his own mysterious motivations for capturing the criminal.
Directors: Samuel Gonzalez Jr., Michael Lombardi, Bridget Smith
Writers: Darren Geare, Jeff Allen Geare
Stars: Michael Lombardi, Marc Menchaca, Joseph Gatt
At its core, this is a relatively family-friendly take on the revenge movie, replete with thick dialogue that double-underscores the core themes, even if there are some sneaky subversions, particularly of the more horror-overloaded subgenre at the moment.
Despite its serious and often philosophical dialogue, this is also a movie where a character talks about cocaine "as white as Snow White's buttocks," so don't you dare mistake it for a fancy affair. Though skillfully shot and well-acted throughout, The Retaliators ends up moving awkwardly between two poles of mood; a somber meditation on pain and a movie peppered with gonzo-schlock.
These competitive tones feel a bit jarring at times, neither harsh enough to satisfy the bloodhounds, despite a welcome increase in ultra-violence in the final stretch, nor do they offer a particularly fresh character study. Nothing here is more memorable or ultimately effective than the deeply disturbing first act murder of the pastor's daughter, strapped to her steering wheel before her car is pushed into a lake, leaving her helplessly drowned. any.
Complicating the thick tonality further is the addition of aggressive rock music from the likes of Papa Roach. While fans of the band will no doubt be amused by an amusing cameo from Jacoby Shaddix as a true psychopath, the music by him and other well-known rock groups feels at odds with the film's somber musings on the nature of violence. and revenge. One suspects that these heightened musical choices were an attempt to elevate the rather generic storytelling, but it doesn't always work.
Despite the 97-minute running time, the film is also bogged down by a few too many subplots; The constant cuts to both the criminal enterprise responsible for the grieving pastor and the aforementioned detective add narrative baggage to a story that would have been better focused on a vengeful preacher who reconciles his religious predilections with his desire for revenge. As a result, he feels unfocused, not fully cushioned.
Watch The Retaliators 2022 Movie Trailer
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