Vigilante

MTI Home Video

R1 DVD

When you see the name you are probably reminded of the old Charles Bronson film Death Wish, for which The Vigilante was an alternate title. This film has a lot in common but in many ways is improved. It is perhaps more realistic and less gung-ho than the Bronson film. For a start, Australia is a country where handguns are not easily obtained so the use of boxing and martial arts is a more believable alternative. It also makes the film a lot more personal than Bronson’s somewhat flat character of Death Wish.

The plot is basically similar. Wealthy businessman Luke is celebrating his engagement with his fiancee on a quiet beach. They are set upon by a local psychopath, Alex, and his two henchmen. Luke is savagely beaten and his girlfriend is raped and murdered. Luke swears revenge and starts training to get himself in shape to wreak havoc on the bad guys. He knows he has little hope of finding the perpetrators but his abilities soon make him feared among the more violent of the underground community. He becomes known as the Vigilante, and the police describe him as a nuisance.

Alex is the son of a local crime lord and is protected by corrupt police. Luke’s activities soon affect their criminal activities as their drug dealers and thugs are bashed and driven off the streets. They are trying to discover Luke’s identity just as he is trying to discover theirs. Luke is befriended by the female police officer who handled his case and they soon become close, but they differ in their attitudes to the Vigilante. Luke feels it should be safe for people to walk the streets at night, his new girlfriend thinks that taking the law into your own hands is one step above anarchy and that people should be more careful about their own safety.

Luke gets a lead on Alex and confronts him in a club. The club is full of the crime lord’s henchmen and Luke is in for a major bashing but is saved just in time by his girlfriend. She is now convinced that Luke is the vigilante, but what can she do about it? She will not pass her information on to the police because her own superior officer is in the pay of the crime lord.

Luke brings the matter to a head by going to Alex’s own home and taking on his henchmen, then Alex. The showdown is bloody and violent as both Alex and Luke are fairly evenly matched.

The film has its strengths and weaknesses. Although it is a low budget production it is quite well done. Director Aash Aaron has done a superb job, especially in the fight scenes that are the main feature of the film. He even manages a little character development in between the fights. On the negative side some of the sound is atrocious. The sound track behind the fights is a hard driving rock tune and it is hard to hear all the dialogue over it. Apart from this, though, it is a good piece of action drama and well worth a look.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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