Savage (2009)

Best movie of this year hands down!

best movie i've ever seen.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

it's your typical story about a man who is viciously attacked in the most horrid way possible, and then tries his hardest to stand up for himself. It's not the Paul Kersey way that makes you route for the good guy. this is a more sinister tale of coming to terms with your life.First of all, the film is not nice. It doesn't make for pleasant viewing, and there is absolutely no relief or no part of the film after the attack that brings any comfort whatsoever, but what makes the film so compelling is the performances from the leads, and how they handle the material given to them.The savage of the title never gets redemption for what happened to him, he just becomes a loner and spends more time with the thoughts and voices in his head. To us, he is a lonely desperate man, but to others, he is a menace, depicting the people who caused his turnaround.The final ten minutes are truly awful, and very gruesome, and the film finishes abruptly and leaves you feeling dirty.All in all, the film carries some heavy morals about getting revenge, it can eat away at you and turn you into the one thing you despise.The film if viewed in a different way could be a warning about the dangers of steroids.What happens to him throughout the film emulates the typical steroid user (castration) your 'member' shrinks, you go bald, you become depressed and you become aggressive.a remarkable film

Paul Graynor (Darren Healy) is a press photographer who tends to catch the seedier parts of life, be it drunken fighting or trying to get glimpses in court of convicted rapists. His father is an invalid, confined to a nursing home, and while visiting, he strikes up a relationship with his dad's nurse Michelle. (Nora Jane No one) Returning home from a date, he is accosted and viciously assaulted by two thugs who not only beat him senseless, but castrate him, leaving him a physical and emotional wreck. At first afraid to leave his house, and then afraid on the street, he eventually seeks empowerment via self defense classes and sessions in the gym, where he bolsters himself with steroids he scores off some friendly Russians. Then anger kicks in, bolstered by nightly reports of violence on the news. Then alienation and rage follows, until finally, Paul's only course of action is brutal bloody revenge...Let's face it, we Irish suck at genre films. The best we can make a stab at is either meh/OK-ayyness such as Isolation, Dead Bodies, Spiderhole or Boy Eats Girl, to the simply crap, such as Crushproof or Dead Meat. Savage though tends to lean towards the more "okay" side of things. It's by no means great, with a rather halting performance from Darren Healy, and due to budgetary constraints, Director Brendan Muldowney unwisely goes the jump cut editing route which is a pet peeve of mine.On a plus side though, it looks quite decent production values wise, is well shot and manages to make my home city of Dublin look nicely grim and foreboding, although in fairness, it isn't much of a stretch to achieve this. The casting in regards to the scumbags is spot on, with them looking and sounding exactly like your average skanger/chav (white trash scum, to any American readers) one can see on my fair city streets at any given time of the day or night.Told in four segments entitled "Fear", "Control", "Anger" and "Revenge", it's more of a slow burning psychological drama as opposed to an exploitative revenge flick, which takes time to get to its payoff, so as a result won't be to everyone's tastes.However, its revenge climax is sufficiently brutal, if somewhat brief, culminating in a realistic enough looking beheading complete with stomach churning sound FX. A preceding revenge scene involving a screwdriver actually made me cringe a bit, so props to Muldowney for that one.So, in conclusion, for Ireland's first revenge film it's... okaaay. Not great, but not bad either. Worth a rental anyway. 6/10 overall.

Savage is a thought provoking and disturbing psychological thriller about a pleasant and well mannered young man who is subjected to a brutal assault in a random and unprovoked attack on the streets of Dublin.Some parts of the movie are quite violent and graphic but the main focus of the film is how he deals with the attack and the changes in his life following the assault. You will come away asking yourself just how thin is the veneer of civilisation, and just what would it take to unleash the savage in any one of us.Not what i would call a pleasant movie, but definitely not run of the mill. Well worth a watch.

Years ago I had a chance to see one of the director's previous works, the short film "The ten steps". That was great, brilliant idea, scary atmosphere. Director Brendan Muldowney now completed his first feature film, Savage, just hitting cinemas. As its title refers, Savage is shocking, brutal, and disturbing. It shows Dublin's inner part when anti-social behavior is a part of every-day life, especially nighttime. Our hero, Paul (Darren Healy) doesn't care too much about it – actually, he makes a living of it by being a photographer -until he gets brutally attacked and that changes his life forever. A classic revenge tale, and as it is, there's no happy ending. We can see Paul changing, turning from quiet, shy guy into a real psycho. He tries hard to go on with his life – medicines, self-defense classes, gym, but even love can't turn him back from the way he entered and when he get closer and closer to his destiny. Main actor Darren Healy delivers his role brilliantly – however, as soon as he cuts his hair and puts his glasses away, he instantly turns into a bad-face thug, whom you wouldn't mess with. By changing his appearance, the illusion of the shy guy completely disappears. Main actress Nora-Jane No one is natural and beautiful. But even her care and love can't prevent the upcoming tragedy. Savage is not less that any other quality thriller nowadays. Well worth watching.