Vigilante Force

Directed by George Armitage, Vigilante Force details the violence that ensues after a less-than-stable war veteran (Kris Kristofferson’s Aaron) is tasked with curbing crime within a small town. It’s seemingly foolproof subject matter that’s squandered virtually from the word go by Armitage, as the filmmaker, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a perpetually sluggish endeavor that’s been executed with all the energy and vitality of a three-toed sloth – with the arms-length atmosphere compounded by an aimless narrative that’s almost entirely lacking in forward momentum (ie it’s all just so relentlessly stagnant). And while the picture admittedly does boast a very small handful of entertaining digressions, including (and especially) a larger-than-life bar fight, Vigilante Force builds towards a rather interminable action-oriented climax (ie so many explosions) that ensures it ends on about as lackluster and disappointing a note as one could imagine – which does, in the end, cement the film’s place as a misfire that completely (and hopelessly) wastes its assortment of agreeable elements and attributes (ie the intriguing transformation of Kristofferson’s character into a power-mad autocrat).

* out of ****