John Doe: Vigilante (2014)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

-John Doe: Vigilante (2015) movie review: -John Doe is a masked vigilante who does out on the streets and hunts down serial killers so he can somewhat brutally murder them. Lovely. One of the unique things about this indie film is that you get to hear both sides of the story, one of them from John Doe who has already been caught and arrested, and another from the media and police, which many films dealing with vigilantes focus less on.-So is this a sort-of superhero film or a crime flick? The film brings the moral issues of taking the law into your own hands and give it to you right out of the gate, leaving it to the audience to decide what side to choose. I like that the film is impartial about it, I really do. And I really liked the film for the most part.-The character backstory is set up like a superhero film, minus the powers and rule against killing. However the non-linear story helped lay the moral point out in a way that they build on each other from multiple perspectives, which is really good! -The pace was too quick I think. It could have taken longer to wait before just jumping us into it, but it never really got slow.-The acting was good. Jamie Bamber, Apollo from BSG, stars as John Doe and offers a very deep, compelling performance to a character like this. It has some other actors I didn't know and they did a good job but nobody else really stood out.-The character of John Doe is a really compelling character because of haw many questions he brings up. The caution he takes is admirable and you can't feel bad for the horrible people he ills, but does it justify killing them? He offers more depth than just that, but I can't say too much. The media characters are pretty interesting, as well as the detectives in charge of the case. There is also a following John Doe develops that take his vigilante thing the wrong way, which is interesting to look at. A certain Batman film did that too if I recall.-Some of the music seemed low budget, but some other parts sounded really good. So mixed bag here.-There are some CGI effects in the film that are not great, but to make up for that, the practical effects in the film are impressive. There are a few scenes where I just do not know how they made something look so realistic. I will get back to that in my content section.-John Doe: Vigilante offers some new elements to an inflated hero/crime genre through unique storytelling elements and some really good moral questions and effects. It did not seem like a super high-budget film at times, but that has cult-classic written all over it. Being a limited release film, I cannot say it is worth seeing in theaters. However John Doe: Vigilante is totally worth checking out! -John Doe: Vigilante holds an R rating, naturally, for some language throughout and some rather violent images and themes. Thus the rally good practical effects. Violence on par with Daredevil and language with the first Punisher. Seems fitting.-So have you seen John Doe? It probably means you are a serial killer and have not long to live. I would run. Like now.

Writer & director Kelly Doan's "John Doe, Vigilante" qualifies as the most provocative contemporary vigilante thriller since the Charles Bronson "Death Wish" movies. This message-laden saga is at once both issue-oriented as well as action-packed with at least three surprises. The inherent weakness here is that Dolan and scenarist Stephen M. Coates don't develop the characters sufficients and everything is a bit too neat to be entirely believable. Nevertheless, "Joe Doe Vigilante" is quite often a gripping film. An anonymous individual who dons a white mask and a hoodie doles out rough justice in a variety to ways. The eponymous hero, however, confines himself to killing either criminals or people who have gotten away with their heinous crimes. Television news reporter Sam Foley (Gary Abrahams), who has covered Joe Doe's killing spree, points out the problem to fellow journalist Ken Rutherford (Lachy Hulme) about a half-hour into this compelling but loquacious 93 minute melodrama. Foley explains, ". . . the system as it stands, it doesn't work." Foley elaborates, "We're too politically correct. It's all about the perp's rights. The preps get their way. The victims end up getting screwed. And when you go to court, if you're lucky enough to get to court, the courts end up editing the victim's impact statement." Soon afterward, Sam compares a vigilante to a soldier. "A vigilante is simply somebody who violates the law in order to punish a criminal for what they believe is right, for what they believe is justice. So what then do you call a country who sends soldiers to kill people in places like Afghanistan or Iran, Iraq, Korea, Vietnam, in the name of what they believe is right, in the name of what they believe is justice? That country is a vigilante, pure and simple. Only, when a country does it, people call it war, and nobody bats an eyelid. But when a country does it, they aren't anywhere near as clinical or as careful as someone like Joe Doe. And that country ends up killing thousands of innocent women and innocent children."John Doe (Jamie Bamber of "Battlestar Galactica") is a decent individual who can no longer tolerate a flawed justice system that allows criminals get away with their crimes. He is a combination of Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey in "Death Wish" and Peter Finch's Howard Beale from "Network." He takes justice into his own hands and kills child molesters, wife beaters, and other criminals. The plain mask that he wears represents a kind of objectivity that his notorious exploits encapsulate. Eventually, his vigilantism inspires a conservative, grass roots movement that labels themselves "Speak for the Dead." These people take it upon themselves to punish lawbreakers that the justice system refuses to punish. Dolan and Coates relate the action in flashback, and they outline the vigilante history of our sympathetic hero. Before the jury delivers its verdict, Joe Doe is in custody, and he consents to an jail house interview with Ken Rutherford. The big surprise comes here. Despite its garrulous nature, "John Doe Vigilante" is an intelligent film that doesn't pander with his many brutal killings. Dolan doesn't whip us up into a frenzy. He lens everything from an impersonal point of view until he shows our hero in a podcast confronting the man who inspired him to embark on his vigilante path. At its worst, "John Doe Vigilante" is pretentious but articulate. The ending may not come as a surprise to some, but it is unlike anything we've seen before. Any time that I can watch a movie completely in one sitting, I know that the filmmakers have done something right. Some movies you have to break up into a number of different viewings, but I had no problem watching "John Doe Vigilante" from start to finish late one evening and wrote this review during the process.

I randomly came across this movie and after seeing an over 6 rating on here thought i'd give it a go. Well I'm glad I did! It's a unique film centred around a captured vigilante being interviewed while we see what he did through flashbacks. It works perfectly, the acting is top notch, performances on the money and it really does make you think how bad the justice system has become. I'm really impressed with this, picture was crystal clear, sound was perfect too, this wasn't a low budget type sounding like it was filmed in the toilet with amateur performances like you often get with these small releases. The violence is very realistic, hard hitting and brutal in places but it serves the story well. Check it out, nice little twist before the end too.

This is a film with a powerful message to the society as a whole. The topic of the film is about people taking the law into their own hands and delivering swift justice on the criminals who have harmed them. Thus the term Vigilante: a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate.The film also focuses on the criminal as well as the crime committed. Young juvenile delinquents are often converted into hardened criminals simply by the association of the two in jails. Young first time teenage offenders are often beaten and raped by the hardened criminals during their first years in prison. They are also mentored by these career criminals into propagating even more heinous crimes like breaking and entering, car-jacking, rape and even premeditated murder. Often when released, these young criminals vent their anger at the first person that crosses their path.The film shows the flaws in the justice system allowing career criminals to be released on a technicality or loopholes by their lawyers. These depraved individuals often return to their criminal ways despite their rehabilitation.The old saying "An eye for an eye" is a model for the capital punishment system that mankind has adopted for centuries. In Britain and America, it was hanging. During the French Revolution, it was the Guillotine. Later with the advent of modern science, we had the electric chair and gas chamber. Later on the lethal injection became more practical. Britain has abolished the death penalty and there has been no hanging for a period of 50 years.This film is about a man who has suffered at the hands of a perverse and ruthless criminal. He cannot tolerate his grief anymore and thus adopts the mentality of a vigilante to seek absolution. The film is documentary style interrogation with live footage of the vigilantes actions and the crowds reactions to the televised footage the vigilante has sent to the press. The film has graphic scenes of violence. Therefore I would not recommend this film for persons under 18 years.Some similar films you may like: Walking Tall (1973), Midnight Express(1978), Bound By Honor a.k.a. Blood In Blood Out (1993), American Me (1992), Animal Factory (2000), Charles Bronson's Death Wish Films 1-5 (1974-1994), Death Sentence (2007), Fighting Back (1982 Must see film starring Tom Skerrit), The Exterminator 1&2(1980-1984 Cult films starring Robert Ginty).Thank you for reading this review.