Brawl in Cell Block 99

Directed by S. Craig Zahler, Brawl in Cell Block 99 follows Vince Vaughn’s Bradley Thomas as he’s sent to prison on drug-related charges and eventually forced to fight a series of increasingly dangerous opponents. It’s certainly not surprising to discover that Brawl in Cell Block 99, much like Zahler’s 2015 debut, Bone Tomahawk, boasts an almost epic running time and exceedingly deliberate execution, as Zahler, working from his own screenplay, delivers a slow-moving narrative that grows more and more absorbing as the admittedly familiar storyline unfolds – with the picture benefiting substantially from Vaughn’s often astonishingly commanding (and mostly silent) turn as the seemingly unstoppable protagonist. Zahler’s patient sensibilities pave the way for a midsection rife with captivating interludes and sequences (eg Bradley’s initial intake into the prison is nothing short of fascinating), and it’s clear, too, that the plot’s descent-into-hell trajectory results in a second half that seriously (and impressively) swings for the fences and pulls few punches – which ensures that Brawl in Cell Block 99, by the time everything’s said and done, has cemented its place as a thoroughly memorable endeavor that rattles around in one’s brain long after the credits have finished rolling.

***1/2 out of ****