journal features

movie review - Defendor

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2015.01.06

This is a movie about a developmentally-challenged Canadian man attempting to bring justice to the city of Hamilton, Ontario by bringing down a local mobster. He's acting on poorly-understood comments from his late grandfather in a misguided attempt to bring justice for his mother, whose life was wiped out by drugs. Believing himself physically capable of overpowering the gangster's henchmen, he gets himself in over his head in the opening scene. Dragging those who love him into the worsening data, he carries on. Will he somehow succeed?

I enjoyed it. It's got a superb cast. I mean I wasn't expecting Elias Koteas in this and didn't know who Kat Dennings was. Woody Harrelson is terrific in the lead of course, but every minor part is played with more depth than you'd normally expect. The writing stays true to its tone and the characters and dialog ring true.

Recommended.

rand()m quote

One day you will take a fork in the road, and you're going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way and you can do something [...] for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and get good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won't have to compromise yourself. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you have to make a decision. To be or to do.

—John Boyd, US Air Force