{"id":5246,"date":"2012-07-16T14:49:34","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T18:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5246"},"modified":"2012-07-16T14:49:34","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T18:49:34","slug":"br-aggression-scale-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5246","title":{"rendered":"BR: Aggression Scale (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>A<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Good\/ BR Transfer: Excellent\/ BR Extras: Standard<\/p>\n

Label: Anchor Bay\/ Region: A \/\u00a0Released: May 29, 2012<\/p>\n

Genre: Crime \/ Revenge \/ Suspense \/ Thriller<\/p>\n

Synopsis: Having just moved into their sprawling country house, a family is threatened by thungs wanting stolen mob money.<\/p>\n

Special Features: Making-of Featurette<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

As he admits in the disc\u2019s making-of featurette, director Steven Miller\u2019s film is a hybrid of Home Alone <\/strong>and A History of Violence<\/strong>, somewhat re-aligned from the angle of a child, and while it has a few strong dramatic spikes, the main problems are Ben Powell\u2019s underdeveloped script and an uninteresting central character \u2013 teenage ticking time bomb Owen – in need of nuances which actor Ryan Hartwig can\u2019t deliver.<\/p>\n

Owen\u2019s background and limited personality \u2013 he\u2019s an aggressive child released from a prison-like sanitarium when his father pays off the staff using mob money from a secret account \u2013 are kept vague for too long by director Miller, and the delay ensures Owen\u2019s limited character never changes beyond a boost in his \u2018aggression scale\u2019 once he\u2019s separated from his controlling meds.<\/p>\n

Once Owen\u2019s self-defense streak kicks in, he becomes a fast-acting MacGyver, instinctively taking objects, disassembling tools and, incredibly, having the foresight to sharpen jacks into a mini-minefield of face-poking objects for just the right use in the finale. He\u2019s also super fast in gathering up gunshot-blown money from an expansive dining room before the killer returns, and setting up the perfect booby traps for surviving aggressor Lloyd (Dana Ashbrook), the chief hitman charged with getting back as much of the stolen $500,000 in cash to thug Bellavance (Ray Wise, unofficially reunited with Ashbrook after their appearance on TV\u2019s Twin Peaks<\/strong>) before Lloyd\u2019s 48 hour deadline limits ends with bad consequences.<\/p>\n

Powell\u2019s script also seems to take place in a world where there are no modern features like office & garage security cameras, car dealership alarms, and teens with iPhones, and while it\u2019s an interesting conceit, a few instances are so far from reality that the mounting drama in the final act becomes ridiculous.<\/p>\n

As a variant on the home invasion thriller, Aggression Scale<\/strong> is a passable B-movie, giving fans a regular dose of splattering gore and sadism, but it also asks audiences to accept a lot of flaws and holes which become increasingly absurd. Miller maintains a good undercurrent of dread, and the suddenness of Lloyd\u2019s quick nods and reactive executions are potently shocking, but there\u2019s also the clich\u00e9d marriage between two na\u00efve adults and their bickering step-kids that isn\u2019t unique. Actress Fabianne Therese is strong as older stepsister Lauren, but there\u2019s barely a hint of her personal demons (she\u2019s apparently a cutter); once she\u2019s injured, most of her screen time is spent screaming while running from the killers with non-verbal Owen.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s use of mundane small city locations are a big plus, as is the massive country house where the killers converge to get their cash and wipe out a seemingly innocent family of four, and composer Kevin Riepl starts the film with a strong grungy theme and scores most of the stalking scenes with industrial, form-fitted cues.<\/p>\n

Anchor Bay\u2019s Blu-ray sports a sharp transfer and straightforward 5.1 mix, and the bonus making-of featurette is just the usual on-set footage of cast & crew, with meandering chunks broken up by abrupt fades.<\/p>\n

A better variant of offended aggressors tormenting superficial innocents is perhaps William Fruet\u2019s Death Weekend <\/strong>(1976), which strips down the characters to their most primal behaviour and amps up the sadism to one grueling, nihilistic finale.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0A<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ A . Film: Good\/ BR Transfer: Excellent\/ BR Extras: Standard Label: Anchor Bay\/ Region: A \/\u00a0Released: May 29, 2012 Genre: Crime \/ Revenge \/ Suspense \/ Thriller Synopsis: Having just moved into their sprawling country house, a family is threatened by thungs wanting stolen mob money. Special […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[1432,1431,1433],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1mC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5248,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246\/revisions\/5248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}