Sayang Wayang: The Aggression Scale (2012)

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

The Aggression Scale (2012)

Fabianne Therese: Booby traps in The Aggression Scale.

At a glance:

DVD Sleuth's Mike Long notes: "When you watched Home Alone (1990), did you think - instead of using paint cans on the bad guys, I wish that the kid would kill them? Well, that's the approach taken by this movie". The Aggression Scale (2012) can be described as a violent, R-rated version of Dennis The Menace, with no room for comedy. It contains shreds of originality, mixed on a good pace with two watchable teenage leads in Ryan Hartwig and Fabianne Therese, who play two kids forced to defend a home invasion when some bad guys come a-knockin.
Bad news on the doorstep:

Dana Ashbrook's horrible actin.

It didn't secure general release and they didn't even bother to finish puttin up the official website. Anyway, as a thriller, the sharp editin makes it suspenseful enough to mask what is in actuality, quite an ordinary siege. The booby traps aren't terribly original or genius either - you could write these too if you grew up watchin Rambo or McGyver. Cuttin corners wherever it can, the film has Hartwig and Therese to thank for a convicted performance that carried the movie to the end, without which this project would've sunk well below acceptable mediocrity. For example, in an interview, the lass said she hurt her hand for real and they just wrote it in and she carried on.

Reminds me of:

Ryan Hartwig

Ryan Hartwig as the wordless killer child rivals Daeg Faerch's presence as young Mike Myers in Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007). Meanwhile, the worst actor in the movie is Dana Ashbrook, playin the head henchman. Useless and dislikable. He reminds me of this one guy, the worst actor in Malaysian cinema ever.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Steven C. Miller is a filmmaker who knows how to cut his losses. I'd put it down for ★★★ if you watched it without payin.
Bonus material: