I have a fondness for what I call ‘video game films,’ and by that I don’t mean movies based on video games. I’m talking about films that use structure, tone and pacing to simulate the headrush you get from playing a really good video game. Taken is a video game film (the first one, not the other two--and especially not that crap farm that was the third one). The two Crank films are the Aristotlean Ideal of video game films. Dredd, besides being an excellent adaptation of the comic series, is a video game film.
And Joe Lynch has made a kick-ass video game film in Mayhem.
...And you know its video game sensibilities right up front, as Steven Yuen gives an excellent monologue about what’s about to happen in a way that’s makes it seem like a really snarky cut scene. There’s this virus, it makes people act like inhibitionless maniacs, and the only way to stop this virus is to quarantine the infected until the virus burns itself out in eight hours. That’s all you need to know to enjoy the film, and that’s all you’re given.
Yes, there’s a lot of satire and political commentary about corporate culture...but the main reason you’re watching this film is to see two people we’ve learned to like act out and fight their way through a succession of levels--each headed up by a Level Boss--to kill the Main Boss and gain satisfaction. And in Mayhem, Lynch gives us the proper catharsis. The heroes are made just likeable enough before everything goes nuts that we are right behind them when they’re doing horrific things. The Level Bosses are unique and twisted enough that you want them to die spectacularly. The obstacles that our not-so-dynamic duo have to overcome are varied enough to engage the viewer. If there’s one flaw, it’s that the Main Boss, Steven Brand’s John ‘The Boss’ Towers, isn’t really monstrous enough. Oh, he’s monstrous (we’re talking about a character who at one point pisses on the corpse of the film’s sacrificial lamb), but after going through the other Bosses, he should be epically, insanely monstrous.
Of course, this film would not work without great actors breathing life into sometimes cartoony personages. Yuen, as our corporate-tool-gone-rogue Derek, and Samara Weaving*, as our outsider-caught-up-in-the-insanity Melanie, have a terrific chemistry, and that carries the film. The real trick is that Lynch never lets us forget that the way the chemistry develops into something romantic may just be the virus talking. And some of the antagonists are pretty damn amusing; I particularly liked Dallas Roberts and Caroline Chikezie.
This is a film that’s not to be taken too seriously. It’s meant to be fun and exciting in the sort of over-the-top way the best first person shooters are. And sometimes that’s all you need. I do recommend this, provided you can meet the film on its level.
How YOU Can Curate The 2nd Half Of The Horrorfest!
There's still time to help curate this year's Halloween Horrorfest
If you donate $31 to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network before October 15th and send me the receipt proving you did, you can name one movie I have to watch during the Horrorthon. Keep in mind there are some things I won’t do (so no Eli Fucking Roth movies, for example), and it has to be a movie I can find. If you’re an independent filmmaker and are willing to make the donation, by all means send me the film. I will do as many as I can before October 31st, and those I can I will view in the days after Halloween during ‘Beyond Halloween Horrorfest.'
At this time, where victims of sexual abuse are being openly mocked by powerful men, we need to stand up. I hope you will contribute and let your voice be heard.
*Samara Weaving is luuuuuuuurvely. Even when splattered in blood.
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