S. Craig Zahler made one of the best films of 2015 hands down. Bone Tomahawk is an excellent piece of western storytelling that brought out wonderful performances from its cast. Kurt Russell was fantastic, Patrick Wilson and Matthew Fox did great work, and Richard Jenkins stole the show in a movie filled with stellar moments. Now we have a new film to look forward to from Zahler, and if the story is anything like the poster it's going to be brutal.
Jennifer Carpenter, Vince Vaughn, Don Johnson and Udo Kier. If I didn't know better, I'd almost go as far as to say Zahler might be trying to do a "Tarantino" with these films. Bone Tomahawk showed us that some of our favorite classic actors can still pull off great deliveries when put to the test, and maybe that's what we should look be looking forward to from Brawl.
The title Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a mouthful and makes me think of Assault on Precinct 13 or District B13: Ultimatum, but maybe that's not a bad thing. Here's what the official synopsis has to say about the film:
A former boxer named Bradley loses his job as an auto mechanic, and his troubled marriage is about to expire. At this crossroads in his life, he feels that he has no better option than to work for an old buddy as a drug courier. This vocation improves his situation until the terrible day that he finds himself in a gunfight between a group of police officers and his own ruthless allies. When the smoke clears, Bradley is badly hurt and thrown in prison, where his enemies force him to commit acts of violence that turn the place into a savage battleground.
That doesn't sound bad to me at all, especially since it's coming from the man who directed and wrote Bone Tomahawk. Jack Heller and Dallas Sonnier are both set to produce the film, and they also worked together on the Kevin Durand starring Dark Was the Night which I enjoyed quite a bit. Brawl in Cell Block 99 hits theaters October 6 and VOD on the 13th so it'll be one to look out for soon. Here's hoping for that Vince Vaughn versus Udo Kier showdown we've all been wanting.