"The Retaliators"
review by Diablo Joe



"The Retaliators"

With a title like that, the fact that this is a revenge flick comes as no surprise. With films like “Savage Streets,” “Rolling Thunder,” and, more recently, the “Taken” franchise, "The Retaliators" tries to mine a bit of fresh territory with its lead character's moral stance and a few story structure twists and turns. Parts of it work, other parts, not quite as well.

"Retaliators" follows a timid father and minister named Bishop (a name, perhaps, a bit too on-the-nose). When a thug named Ram Kady kills Bishop's daughter Sara, Bishop is so driven to despair that even his faith can't help him. When renegade cop Jed offers him a solution in the form of revenge, Bishop dives headfirst into a seedy underworld of criminals and drugs, testing his survival skills and moral core.



"Retaliators" is not, and is not meant to be, a subtle film. Its characters are mostly broadly-drawn neo-archetypes. The film drapes its darker side in a heavy metal milieu, with bad guys portrayed by Five Finger Death Punch and Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix as a serial killer. As preacher Bishop, Michael Lombardi brings some of the same wide-eyed naivete to his character that we saw in his "Rescue Me" fireman-newbie Mike Siletti. From Netflix's "Ozark," Marc Menchaca plays Jed as perpetually grizzled and scowling.

"The Retaliators" starts with a bang. The opening five minutes is a stunner. Violent, puzzling, and tense, it's a beautifully shot introduction that immediately grabs our attention. Then, however, we jump back several weeks, with two-thirds of the film actually a flashback to this moment. By the time the film circles back around to the events of the first scene, we've almost forgotten it and the resolution of the events renders it almost moot. With another flashback mid-film—and one within that—we have a story within a story, ad nauseam. It's non-linear storytelling that could confuse even Christopher Nolan.



Possibly the biggest problem with "The Retaliators" is its desire to do be too many things. It's a revenge film with a drug-war subplot, a serial-killer story, macho-messaging, and awkward religious overtones. It even veers into pseudo-ghoul-zombie territory. The result can be, at times, confusing. Revenge flicks, when this basic at their core, should be pretty simple affairs. No one comes to the genre looking for particular depth or emotional complexity.

What audiences do want are thrills and grisly retribution. And there, "The Retaliators" delivers—sort of. he stylishness of the violent opening is never quite topped.Not to say that the film doesn't bring the mayhem. There's a shotgun to the face, severed heads, eye violence, and plenty of flesh rended. But it's a bit mayhem-lite. The effects are excellent but often cut away from so quickly that we don't get to savor the gore the way we might wish.



Similarly, we miss any real feeling of menace from our bad guys. These heavy metal dudes may look scary to your elderly aunt, but they come across as a bunch of tatted pussycats. Only hulking, hairless Ram, played by Joseph Gatt, ever seems genuinely nasty. And no amount of gaunt eye makeup can convince us that the boyish Lombardi has taken Bishop along his fall from grace to the depths it needs to go.

Interesting, particularly in such an often macho-headed film, are the film's female characters. Even as they exist almost solely as story-fodder, they often exhibit a compact and straightforward depth and complexity—far more than even our main characters.



"The Retaliators," to its credit, is never dull. But it also never thoroughly cuts loose and gets exhilaratingly nasty. It never exhibits the batshit crazy cajones of a “Savage Streets.” It’s fun enough, grisly enough, but over-laden with backstories, subplots, and asides that often get in the way of its fundamental mission: give the audience revenge it craves.

This devil of a reviewer gives “The Retaliators” 2.5 out of 5 imps




Trailer


Michael Lombardi interview