Brawl in Cell Block 99 (film): A surprise serious film from Vince Vaughn

When you think of Vince Vaughn you probably think of his fast-talking comedic ways in stuff like Old School and Wedding Crashers. For the most part people do not associate this extremely tall actor with being extremely good at serious roles even though when he was first starting out, that was what he was aiming for. I think getting involved in comedies was just as easier gig for him because as anyone in the industry knows, these films are far more likely to get big bucks than dramas are.

This movie, which has only managed to pull down a mere $80,000 at the box office on a budget of $4 million, is kind of proof of what I am talking about but perhaps it was always intended to be a streaming feature. It's tough to tell these days but seeing as how folks don't go to the cinema nearly as much as they used to, that could be the case.

Anyway, I almost didn't watch this movie because of the more than 2 hour runtime and the fact that it was late at night already when I went film shopping, but I really enjoyed it.

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The story here isn't necessarily a unique one, but it didn't really need to be because the fact that Vaughn was in the lead role was shocking enough to gather attention. It's a complete work of fiction and also has some rather unrealistic elements to it but it's a film, so who cares.

Bradley Thomas is a middle class guy who is trying to make ends meet and also to have a child with his wife. He is laid off from his job at the very start of the film and that is really all we are told about him. We get the indication that he might have a bit of an unethical past due to his appearance and the massive head tattoo that he has.

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Without explicitly stating it, we are told via visualization that Bradley is a very tough cookie and also has connections to the drug world. I enjoyed how they were able to get this point across to the audience without doing something lazy like having a narrator or drawing out some long dialogue to indicate why it is that upon being fired he is able to accumulate so much wealth to quickly. Turns out he just has a knack for being a drug mule and this pays a lot better than being a mechanic like his is exhibited as being at the very start of the film. This all happens in the first 10 minutes of the movie and is evident in the trailer so no, this is not a spoiler.

When he gets busted, he refuses to rat out his associates and simply accepts his punishment and without any show of emotion towards prosecutors, detectives, or his wife, he calmly heads to a medium security prison, where he is treated quite well by the guards and other staff. He doesn't say a great deal and is willing to fall in line and obey the rules.

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Because of his connections inside of the drug trade his life is about to get turned upside down in jail though as he is instructed to either murder someone that is in maximum security or something terrible that I am not going to spoil is going to happen to his wife. This is where the film becomes a bit unrealistic because he is given this information by a visitor through the glass with the phones that are in all prison films and even though I have never been to prison, I know that these conversations are monitored. Therefore the entire premise of the film would have to be thrown out if we were trying to be realistic. It's a film though, so let's let that slide.

He needs to be transported to a particular part of the prison that is known for being hardcore and in order to make that happen he has to continue to harm people in the prison with him. It is at this point that we get introduced to Don Johnson, who I have not seen featured in really anything ever since Quentin Tarantino apparently lost interest in him.

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I've probably already said too much about the overall plot but I think that once you have the "building blocks" so to speak of what is going on, you can probably predict what is going to happen from that point forward. An unusual and unique plot is not what makes this film great. What makes it exceptional to me is the fact that it shows a side of Vaughn that very few people have ever seen and that is that he is actually a truly gifted serious actor. There are ZERO comedic moments in this movie and Vaughn can act stone cold serious and even bring on the tears on demand. He is so much more than a fast-talking comedic side character.

Should I watch it?

I think that this film is going to appeal to almost anyone. You don't have to be interested in the particular genre of action / thriller or even stories about the drug trade because this movie is mostly just a feature of how fantastic Vince Vaughn can be if he really wants to be. Vince is 53 years old and if he wants it, I can see him moving to do more and more films that have a more serious edge to them. The money isn't as good in doing so, so maybe that won't happen but I certainly would like to see that be the case. I enjoyed every minute of this, even the rather absurd bits.

_{this film can be legally obtained on virtually every major (and some not so major) streaming services right now}