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Wild Justice
Australia 2014
produced by Rod Manikam for Rodman Pictures
directed by Julian Cheah
starring Rod Manikam, Simon Arblaster, Maggie Meyer, Alyssia Joyce, Terry 'Watto' Watkins, Darryl Westrup, Stewart Granger (II), Dave Johnson, Luke Binks, Nika Golota, Ethan Hyde, Ben Kjellgren, Paul Campbell, Steve White, Nina Sparrow, Melisa Munoz Escobar, Trevor Babbe, Allan Murrish, Virginia Murrish, Graeme Frazer, Clinton 'Cookie' Farrell, Trish Zanetti, Luke Thornley, Steve Fullagar, Alex Harper, Daragh Wickham, Andrew Fraser, Christopher Thierney, Isaac Griffiths, Liam Pegler, Antonio 'Bossman' Ferraro
written by Terry 'Watto' Watkins, Calvin Wong, action choreography by Julian Cheah, Terry 'Watto' Watkins
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Afghanistan veteran Daniel (Rod Manikam) has just learned that his wife
Lisa (Maggie Meyer) is pregnant with their first child and couldn't be
happier ... when he witnesses small fry crook Frankie (Darryl Westrup)
trying to rape the barmaid (Nina Sparrow) of the diner they're at in one
of the toilet stalls. Good guy that he is, Daniel grabs Frankie, who's no
match for him, physically, gives him a good beating then drags him through
the diner to throw him out - with the whole place applauding. Problem
is, Frankie might be a little idiot, but he's also a member of Tony
Vincent's (Dave Johnson) gang, so he gathers some of Tony's men to have
his revenge and have Daniel beaten up in a public park. Now Daniel is not
one to be taken down easily, but it's five against one, so he's pretty
much beaten to a pulp, and it would have been even worse, but the police
arrives on time. Later though, when Daniel's out, Tony's men kidnap Lisa
and ask for ransom, to properly pay back for what Daniel has done. And
even though Daniel pays up, Tony's men shoot Lisa dead before his very
eyes ... Daniel is devastated ... but he also wants revenge - and
fortunately, his army buddy Shane (Simon Arblaster) promises to help out
to that end. However, when they attack Tony's men in a few carefully
planned sting operations, they only achieve very little other than killing
a few of Tony's henchmen. But their friend and sister in arms Jen (Alyssia
Joyce) has done some research on her own, has found the hideout of Tony
and gang, and has also identified his key enemy, rival gang boss Jeremy
(Ben Kjellgren), sho after Shane is forced to take down one of his men in
a fight, is all too happy to send his top team, Jack (Luke Binks) and
Ashlee (Nika Golota) along with them. But is an army of a mere five strong
enough to take down the heavily guarded hideout of a cunning crime
kingpin? ... In its best moments, Wild Justice is a
promising piece of adrenaline pumping low budget action cinema - but
unfortunately, the movie isn't composed of exclusively great moments.
Basically, the film is lots of fun when a fistfight or a shootdown is on,
but the scenes in-between are unfortunately less than great, rather an a
bit tiresome collection of testosterone-driven cinema mainstays full of
stilted and clichéed dialogues but lacking depth on one side, irony on
the other. This all doesn't sink the movie as such, because it
really comes into its own when the action's on, but everything in between
makes it at best a "promising" rather than "good"
movie.
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