Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Brawl in Cell Block 99 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 4, 2019

Brawl in Cell Block 99 is everything its day-and-date release partner Mayhem is not, and more. Director S. Craig Zahler's (Bone Tomahawk) work is a slow-build construct that paints a picture of a man who takes his family's fate and future in his own hands. He brings to them financial and future security through bad dealings and violent doings, ignoring his own well-being in the process with the assuredness and coldness of an android, all the while showing his wife and soon-to-be-born daughter the love and affection of a goodhearted man without a mean streak or violent bone in his body. Throughout the film, he is a man at peace with his choices, even if he is outwardly committing acts of unspeakably brutal violence. While Mayhem created a world of graphic violence with tangential purpose, Brawl challenges its character to destroy anyone who stands in the way of saving his wife and daughter from afar. The film transitions into one of the most brutally violent finales in film history. That finale is not rewarding to watch; the film revels in viscera a little too much, but it's at least violence for purpose rather than violence for violence's sake. The film has rightly received much praise, but it's not a perfect film, either, even as it finds clarity in simplicity and a towering performance from an unflappable Vince Vaughn.

When a drug mule named Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn) is imprisoned for a crime he did commit, he believes he'll be in and out in a few years and reunited with his wife (Jennifer Carpenter) and soon-to-be-born daughter. But when one of his enemies on the outside promises Bradley that he will have his unborn daughter mutilated while still in the womb if he doesn't kill a man in another prison, Bradley systematically destroys various prison guards and inmates in order to be transferred to the more dangerous, inhospitable, and unforgiving maximum security facility where the man is being held and where Bradley will be under the watchful eye of a no-nonsense warden named Tuggs (Don Johnson).

The movie’s title gives away the plot point that Bradley’s new life with Lauren and his in utero daughter won’t last forever, that something will lead him to landing in prison. It’s in prison where the film takes its most dramatic turns and begins its relentless depiction of violence, and it takes a solid hour to reach that point. Brawl is not a film for the impatient. On the one hand it’s a film worthy of admiration for its dedication to thoroughly building the story and character. On the other hand the story is not at all interesting or novel enough to warrant this much story building and slow pace construction. Brawl is a basic story of a father doing what he must to protect his family, here from inside of a prison rather than roaming around with a gun or however most other, similar films tell the same tale. What's unique, and engaging, is how Zahler, who also wrote the film, shapes the character, deliberately but also quickly. After viciously pummeling his wife's Mitsubishi, the film establishes Bradley as a loving man who, even after learning his wife cheated on him, wants to set things right with her, begin a family with her. He's a man of passion and dedication. The two define him arguably to fault, leading him to doing bad things for the right reasons. He's a violent man as he must be violent. He stands up for what is right, for what will fill and fuel his soul, the cost to his body and life be damned.

Zahler somehow manages to keep the film fresh and invigorating even if the story could have been told fully and competently in 3/4 of the time. Zahler lingers on various scenes, mostly to allow the audience to soak in Bradley's surroundings and circumstances and take full register of the character's mindset and decision making processes, which Vaughn conveys with both a simplicity and intimacy that is established from the film's outset, doesn't evolve, yet somehow always feels intimately fresh with each new transfer to a deeper, darker, filthier, grimier place, literally and also metaphorically. By the time the film reaches its conclusion, the combination of extreme graphic violence and unforgivingly dank, dreary, and unlivable conditions almost seem to be one and the same, created and executed in a world of extreme discomfort for the viewer. Vaughn's character, as stoic as he may be, also finds the prison reprehensible, but he ultimately embraces its gross imperfections, using the environment to his advantage to smash heads, tear off flesh, to turn his victims into unrecognizable pulp in a place that is unrecognizable as anything resembling humane. Through it all, Bradley remains a rock, focused on task with as much extreme inner determination as his physical dismantling of his opponents.

And Vaughn's Bradley is easy to cheer for, despite working outside the law on the outside of the prison cell and executing violence beyond even the most radical and reasonable realms of the imagination on the men standing in his way, be they innocent (albeit somewhat crude and cruel) prison guards at the medium security facility, the more hostile guards at the high security prison, or the men who truly stand in his way. He is perhaps the most basic representation of an anti-hero ever depicted in film. What he does ranges from questionable to deplorable to downright disgusting, yet his heart is always on his family. His intentions are never selfish, and he proceeds through the physical destruction of his enemies without remorse or doubt, not with delight but certainly with determination to ensure that his family remains safe and that anyone in his way will not just pay, but pay in a way that there won't be any open casket funerals, to say the least.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Brawl in Cell Block 99 comes sourced from a 6K digital shoot, which was downscaled to 4K for the digital intermediate from which this Blu-ray has been further downscaled to 1080p. The picture is generally very strong, if not a bit flat and digital-glossy. Texturally, it is of a high quality, with skin details often at an agreeably complex level, street clothes and prison attire appearing well defined (particularly towards film's end when Bradley's orange jump suit accumulates blood, sweat, and grime), and the image brings the various prison locales to life, from the relatively hospitable cells in the medium security prison to which he is initially sentenced to the inhumane filth in which he is housed at the maximum security facility. It's in this final prison where the transfer finds its greatest strengths, not so much because it boasts the most raw clarity -- it does not, largely because of the lower light conditions -- but because it's the most texturally rewarding and revolting at the same time. Gore close-ups, albeit seen briefly, are revealed in all of the stomach-churning brutality. Colors often push one way or another, blue in some scenes, dank and grim in others. A few moments of more neutrally colored locations largely impress, such as when Bradley is transferred to either of the prisons or inside his medium security cell with its bright blue walls. Black levels are generally deep and strong beyond an odd red push seen at the 15 minute mark. Infrequent and light banding and macroblocking also make appearances.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack impresses from the beginning with whirring machinery off to the sides when Bradley receives his layoff notice. These are the first of many enveloping and environment-detailing sounds in a track that is surprisingly not big on the kind of silly over the top sonic mayhem as heard in a movie like Mayhem. Here, the sounds match the movie's tone and pace, which are more deliberate and contemplative, and a more robust soundtrack built on excess would have done it an injustice. But basic support and ambient effects are clear and well positioned throughout the stage. Gunfire pops in chapter three with fine positioning around the stage, particularly when heard at distance. Close-up shots lack that desirable depth and intense volume. Quality reverb may be heard at the first prisoner count in chapter four in a tightly confined prison hallway, and again towards the film's end. Punches and slams and sounds of squashing heads and ripping flesh and breaking bones are more than adequately clear and prioritized. Dialogue follow suit with excellent front-center positioning. Musical delivery takes full advantage of the speakers given to it. Fidelity, depth, and stage balance are all positives.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

RLJE's Blu-ray release of Brawl in Cell Block 99 contains two featurettes. A DVD copy of the film is included. A digital copy is not. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Journey to the Brawl (1080p, 15:10): Key cast and crew discuss the production's history, the story and characters, the qualities the cast brought to the film, life on the set and production constraints, building the fight scenes, shooting locations and sets, and destroying the car at the beginning of the film.
• Beyond Fest Q&A (1080p, 31:31): BeyondFest Co-Founder Christian Parks sits down with Vince Vaughn, S. Craig Zahler, Udo Kier, Don Johnson, Jennifer Carpenter, and Jack Heller to discuss the film.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a very good movie, somehow capable of extending its story beyond a more reasonable runtime with a rewarding, slow-burn story advancement and very capable scripted and acted characterization. The film's unflinching brutality is as much a calling card as the carefully constructed characterization. What's more impressive is that the film works so well despite a near total lack of basic plot originality. It's a credit to just how good a film it can be, and often is, considering the violence and how divisive the film feels like it should be amongst critics and the movie-watching community. In short, it's a film that defies almost all the odds. RLJE's Blu-ray delivers good video and audio. Supplements are limited to a pair of featurettes. Recommended.