Big Bad Wolves

Big Bad Wolves details the bloody violence that ensues after a grieving father (Tzahi Grad’s Gidi) abducts the man (Rotem Keinan’s Dror) he believes murdered his daughter, with the film following Gidi as he and a rogue cop (Lior Ashkenazi’s Micki) attempt to torture Dror into admitting his guilt. There’s little doubt that directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado do a fantastic job of immediately luring the viewer into Big Bad Wolves‘ narrative, as the movie opens with a striking slow-motion sequence that sets a tone of impossible-to-resist lurid stylishness – with that vibe perpetuated by a first half that’s similarly rife with memorable interludes and hypnotic instances of bravura filmmaking. It’s only as the film shifts into its dialogue-heavy and unexpectedly stagy second half that one’s interest begins to wane, with Keshales and Papushado’s screenplay, past that point, adopting a stagy feel that wreaks havoc on the movie’s momentum (ie the filmmakers seem to be going out of their way to pad the running time up to a needlessly overlong 110 minutes). And although it often does feel as though Keshales and Papushado are merely prolonging the inevitable, Big Bad Wolves manages to conclude on an unexpected and impressively mean-spirited note – which ultimately cements the film’s place as an engaging yet uneven little revenge thriller.

*** out of ****