Movie Breakdown: Donnybrook

Pre-Screening Stance:

SOTO’s own Noah didn’t think much of Donnybrook when he saw it at Fantastic Fest last year, but I like the cast (Jamie Bell, Frank Grillo, James Badge Dale, Margaret Qualley) and the film’s trailer is ominous in all the right ways.  Plus, let’s face it, it’s likely that Noah slept through his screening anyhow.

Post-Screening Ramble:

Donnybrook is a tough, grim film that’s occasionally good and often tedious.  What works is its general premise – very poor people doing terrible things in order to have a shot at a better life.  This is largely led by Jamie Bell’s Jarhead Earl, a former Marine who’s hellbent on entering and winning the Donnybrook, an all-out brawl with a $100,000 cash prize.  He actually does awful things again and again as he makes his way to the fight, but he’s a weirdly relatable character.  The same can be said for Margaret Qualley’s Delia, an intrepid young lady determined to escape the grasp of her psycho brother (Frank Grillo).  Unfortunately, everything around them is just too ridiculous.  There’s Grillo’s Chainsaw Angus, a super murdery fella, and James Badge Dale’s Whalen, an insensible police officer, and both are shallow, one note characters that don’t do anything but add unnecessary noise.  There’s also a lot of needless violence.  Now, that’s not me saying there’s too much kicking or whatnot, it’s more that whenever the film backs itself into a corner and actually has to do something noteworthy, a punch is thrown or a head is blown off in a graceless attempt to just shove the story forward.  Oh well.

If you’re going to watch this, I advise that you wait and do it from the comfort of your couch.

One Last Thought:

I watched Donnybrook on Saturday and then the Grammys on Sunday.  They don’t have anything to do with each other, but the close proximity of the two clued me into the fact that Frank Grillo looks a lot like Kevin from the Backstreet Boys.  Time to remake Double Impact.