Movie Review #7 - "Redemption" (2013)

Movie Review #7 - "Redemption" (2013)

On IMDB:  Redemption (2013)

Benny's Rating: 7 / 10 Tabasco Peppers

Synopsis:

A British soldier from the war in Afghanistan becomes down and out and hits bottom.  He meets up with a young girl on the streets and takes care of her.  He's a drunk, loser, and basically "scum of the earth".  Enter Sister Cristina, the nun who feeds the homeless and provides medication for those who want to remain anonymous.

Joey Smith (played by Jason Statham) is the soldier in this 100 minute film.  Joey gets his butt kicked on the street and ends up falling into a gentleman's apartment that is vacant. He finds an ATM card and begins to work himself back into "normalcy".  He gets connected with the Chinese Mafia in London and becomes a bag man.  While this sounds like a typical Statham film, it's not.  He actually acts in it ... More of that later ...

Eventually, the young girl goes missing into a world of slavery (sex slavery).  Joey tries to find her via the Chinese Mafia connection.  The nun, in essence, becomes his human side.  There is compassion, love (in the purest sense), and rage. 

This could almost be a "chick flick" if it wasn't for the typical Statham fighting scenes we have become used to.

The story doesn't have the typical guy from the gutter rises out it to become the hero.  It's actually kind of strange.  You want Joey to succeed, but you know he can't.

Screenwriting:

I was very pleased that the typical Statham movie cliches were not present.  This movie is dark.  It deals with some very difficult subjects.  For example, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Sex Slavery, Human Slavery, Sexuality between the Church and man.  It was really quite impressive and not what I expected.  Was it "Chariots of Fire" or "Ben Hur", probably not.  Better than "The Italian Job" or "Crank" or "The Transporter Series", heck yeah.

Cinematography:

There is nothing in this film that really stood out from others.  There is good use of the overheads and some of the darker shots.  Apart from that, I didn't care for the framing of the rest of the movie.  The shots seemed "convenient" and lighting was too bright in some places and too dark in others.

Acting:

By far, this is one of Statham's best work.  It actually showed that he can act and act very well.  The make-up artist should be commended on the initial scenes with Joey.  That really got me interested.

Sister Cristina played by Agata Buzek was not exactly what I thought or wanted her to be.  Her character was very dimensional.  However, I wish she would have shown a little more facial expression.  Her wardrobe (the nun's habit) and moves were not illustrative enough for me to really care about her.   It wasn't horrible, but I wanted to see more.

Overall Recommendation:

If you are looking for the "Fighting Statham" like in the "The Transporter Series" or "Crank Series", you will be very disappointed.  If you are looking for a good film with real acting and the occasional fight scene, you'll like it.  

It's on Netflix (free with your subscription), but I don't recommend this for the youngsters.