Savage

Three decades after famous urban revenge movies such as MS45 and The Exterminator comes an Irish version. A press photographer is attacked in Protestant Lane, Dublin 2 and is brutally beaten. Mentally and physically scarred he seeks revenge. Sounds great and got good reviews but what a disappointment! Lifeless, over-stylish, one-dimensional, predictable, shallow, and with self-conscious direction. What should have been raw, fresh, unsettling, and memorable ends up polished and forced. It's like the filmmakers were trying to make an arty vigilante movie instead of a tasteless one? The usual obsession with film technique and the 'look' that ruins yet another Irish movie. Good performance from Healy and an impressive music score but an overrated and disappointing movie.