Creepily overrated

Honestly, it feels like there’s a conspiracy to praise and promote this horribly pretentious film.

It seemed to be going for dirty revenge B-movie but slathered in art-house style, kind of like Drive but far less plausible, and with the incongruous music and aesthetics cranked up to a sickly degree.

It wanted to be taken very seriously but made no effort to flesh out the characters. Phoenix’s Joe was a silent, staring bag of clichéd trauma flashbacks who goes on missions to save abused girls. You’d think that SWAT teams would be descending on a guy who slowly walks around with a hammer, braining people and leaving blood drenched crime scenes in his wake, but no.

The implausibility is not limited to the external world. He lies next to and holds the hand of a dying man who murdered his mother and sings along with him. WTF? This guy just butchered several random scumbags, but when confronted with his mother’s killer he’s feeding him painkillers and coddling the sick bastard. I know Joe is traumatised but there’s no consistency to his characterisation.

Also, didn’t Nina witness her dad committing suicide on TV? Where was her reaction to this? Nothing. It’s impossible to engage with characters that have no interior life, especially when they’re in a world with no internal logic.

The whole thing felt like a music video - indulgent, flamboyant, vacuous, but stretched out over 90 painful minutes. What’s with all the gushing critical praise..?