Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The Aggression Scale


(2012) ***1/2

While out on bail,  mob boss Bellavance (Ray Wise, awesome as always) learns that someone pinched $500,000 from him.  Angry beyond belief he sends 4 hit men to kill all the suspects.  Things go smoothly for the hit men until they invade the Rutledge home.  Here they discover Owen, a troubled youth recently discharged from an institution courtesy of his father who used some of Bellavance’s money to “buy” his release.  Unfortunately for the hit men Owen has a long history of extremely violent behavior and he does not take kindly to having his home invaded and family attacked.




The Aggression Scale is Home Alone on steroids.  Owen, who never speaks or shows any emotion, takes his time crafting deadly booby-traps as he seeks hyper-violent vengeance for his family.  Actor Ryan Hartwig perfectly portrays Owen as a violent but ultimately likable teenager.  I couldn't wait for him to unleash his rage on the hit men.  This film is the rare instance where (a) you hate all the bad guys and (b) they all get a satisfying pipe-in-the-ass.  At a lean 84 minutes The Aggression Scale doesn't waste any time.  You guys will love this.

6 comments:

AC said...

great find, jpx! you know we love our PITA.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

Looks terrific! I wish Ray Wise was in everything.

Trevor said...

"Home Alone on Steroids". Nice comparison. I would have loved to see Macauly (sp?) Culking go super aggressive on the intruders. Instead, he put tar on the stairs.

Octopunk said...

Yes! There's nothing like a story of someone showing up to jack somebody up and then they get jacked up instead. Neither of the following movies are that great, but they both feature such a scene: The Score, where Edward Norton gets to be the surprise badass, and Runaway Jury, in which it's Rachel Weisz.

Catfreeek said...

Sounds like a winner and I like the idea of it being only 84 minutes. It's like they made this just for Horrorthon!

DKC said...

Totally sounds great!

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