Official Synopsis:
In an award-winning performance (Best Actor, Venice Film Festival), Vincent Gallo (Buffalo 66) plays Mohammed, a Taliban fighter captured by the US military in Afghanistan after a violent desert attack goes awry. While being transported to a secret detention center in Europe, the vehicle crashes and he suddenly finds himself free. But his newfound freedom quickly disappears as he is relentlessly pursued in a snow-blanketed forest by an army that does not officially exist. A critically acclaimed, thinking-man’s action thriller from director Jerzy Skolimowski (The Shout), ESSENTIAL KILLING tells the story of one man s struggle for survival, where morality has no place as he confronts the necessity to kill in order to survive.
Our Take:
Essential Killing kinda sickened me after seeing all the praise for it. Let me get this straight I‘m supposed to root for a terrorist who kills three American soldiers and then goes on and kills innocent people? No thanks. There’s one scene with a mother and baby that made me want to shut the movie off, but I had to finish it in order to write this review. I don’t care how brilliantly shot or if people thought Gallo was good in it, the story is ridiculous and I wanted to see him killed in the first fifteen minutes of the movie.
Special Features:
- Interview with director Jerzy Skolimoskwi presented by American Express
Conclusion:
Essential Killing is a complete waste of time. Roger Ebert calling it “pure action” goes to show you how ridiculous film critics are and how out of touch Hollywood really is. I will never cheer on a terrorist murderer to survive. For it to have won film festivals boggles my mind and makes me think maybe I saw a different movie. A terrorist going around killing people is really a movie that people should watch? Not in my world it isn’t.
TOTAL GARBAGE!
Overall Picture:
Movie: D
Extra Features: D
