After the baroque brilliance of his horror western BONE TOMAHAWK (2015), S. Craig Zahler scores another home run with BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, a rousing ode to the tough prison genre starring Vince Vaughn in a powerful and literally bone-crunching performance as an incarcerated drug courier who runs amok behind bars in a bid to save the life of his wife and unborn child. At over two hours long, the movie takes its time to tell its relatively simple story, but it is never less than engrossing and builds its tension beautifully, leading to a brutally violent pay-off in the last thirty minutes. It starts off gritty and real and progressively becomes more over-the-top and comic book, but it’s a natural progression and keeps you invested in the main characters and the stakes that are being played for. Great soundtrack as well, along with a nice performance by Don Johnson as a prison warden and a very creepy Udo Kier. Zahler is definitely a filmmaker to watch.
