Piggy (2014)

Too much of everything

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Blistering performances.

I first heard of Piggy when I saw it in my local video store, with its bold and brash 18+ certificate, a friend and I thought it would be a great movie to watch for the night. However, on our first viewing of the film we were fairly disappointed as we were just expecting more from the film. My original rating I would have given this was probably a 5.5, but after watching it again 2 years later, my score has gone up to a 7. Piggy has flaws but it's certainly a good ride, the film felt very ambient and atmospheric in scenes where there is minimal dialogue and emphasizes the main character's lonely life after his brother's death. However, this is contrasted to brutal beatdowns performed by Piggy and his malicious intent on delivering revenge to Joe's (main character) brothers killers. I thought these two deliveries were good against each other and provided more emotion and character development within the story. I especially adored the lighting in some scenes particularly the torture warehouse/toilets and Piggy's apartment at the end of the film where Joe goes to see him. This orange dim light was mesmerizing and I really thought it helped capture the film's emotion and dark tone. Acting is very good and Piggy is definitely the standout character, he is a confident killer and a complete maniac, I was surprised to see the actor who plays him didn't have a bigger film repertoire as he was very impressive! One of the complaints I have read about the film is the repetition of dialogue and I did actually notice this on my second viewing. I admit that it was quite unnecessary to say the line "it was a terrible thing that they did" 5 times (yes I counted) but the purpose of Piggy saying this was to try to aggravate Joe and motivate him to violence towards his brother's killers. This is justified when Piggy buys Joe a huge butcher's knife for Joe's "love of cooking" when obviously it's another subtle hint to Joe to kill them. So yes the repetition of that dialogue could have been done in a better way to be honest.The violence in the film is actually much more graphic than I remembered, there is an off screen head smashing by Piggy which is totally brutal even though you don't see the remains. However, the sound effects of the head squishing under Piggy's boot are brutal and when he puts a sheet over the man's non - existent head, it further implies how violent it is and leaves a lot to the imagination. There is a twist at the end of the movie as well and to be completely honest I didn't completely understand it and I couldn't find any proper explanations of it online, maybe one day there will be a full plot explanation!Piggy is an underrated British Thriller that is well worth your time. If you like the streets of London, strong accents, a very interesting character (Piggy), atmosphere and ambiance, violence and a mature film with dark content? Then this is your film. I picked this up dirt cheap so I definitely recommend picking this movie up on DVD.

I was about to start my review when I happened to read some of the others. Now I feel I must have severely missed something in 'Piggy.' It's a story about a young man in London called Joe, whose brother is murdered by a gang of thugs, leaving Joe to meet up by chance with a mysterious stranger who calls himself 'Piggy' then embark on a revenge spree.Basically, I didn't like it. I found the characters completely dull and one dimensional, plus, if you've read either the blurb about the film or what I've written about, you might as well just skip the first twenty minutes or so, as you'll know everything that happens. Then there's the music. I found it a little over the top. If you were supposed to feel sorry for a character, all you get is a loud, emotional violin tune, making sure we know that we're supposed to feel sorry for them.People have said that Piggy is a violent film. Personally, I couldn't see it. Yes, people hit other people and then kill them. However, much of the visual violence always happens out of shot, leaving you to only witness someone punching someone you can't see.Basically, someone described this as a 'poor man's Fight Club' and I think that basically sums up the film. Judging by what other people wrote about it, it seems to have found a following and good luck to it for that. It just wasn't for me.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Piggy was a movie that had grabbed my attention with just the briefest of descriptions "a new breed of vigilante". Disturbing in its portrayal of a young man who isn't really living life until his brother's violent death sparks him into action, deadly action. Piggy was well-acted yet I kind of felt it was trying to be something more than what it was, failing in its attempt to be a thought provoking psychological thriller. The plot wavers between realism and being absurd, at some points just plain bizarre. With this all in mind, accepting the movie as just a typical revenge film it's not bad, not good, but not bad. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.

This is a good movie. I know its a good movie because it was (for me anyway) very disturbing. Bringing back painful scenes of youth I would sooner forget it was an interesting experience to relive those seens from the safe distance that movies can and do offer.In real life and from a psychological perspective in terms of the role's people can play out as by-product of any given environment (ref: Healing the shame that binds you: John Bradshaw). That it could be possible that when Joe's brother is killed, Joe could fill in the slot is absolutely possible. There is an odd tendency in life to take on the form of that which we fear most.. hence Joe turns into "not a" but "the very self-same" killer that killed his brother.So, there is interesting stuff here. A vivisection of the human psyche pitted against the question of what would you do if...? Or other questions like.. what master do you serve? Is your life mediocre? If so, whats your excuse? Whatever the case and whatever the questions the movie works. It does the job. As well, the acting in this movie is (ALL THE WAY AROUND) absolutely top notch. So you got excellent acting, photography, subject matter.. what more could you ask for? A movie about love? Now there's a scary topic for ya - if for no other reason than that love has always and will always win and will always get the last word - no exceptions.PS: Cheer up... Hollywood has yet to successfully put a monkey on film.