'Outlaws' (2019) Movie Review
Greek tragedy gets an outlaw biker makeover in Stephen McCallum's gritty Australian 1%er saga Outlaws. The director and writer Matt Nable (who also co-stars) lay the epic roadmap over the criminal framework of macho, vest-wearing men and their motorcycles, power struggles, lust, betrayal, and more. The pieces are in place, it never strays far from violence, and the whole thing looks ready to roll, and the result is…okay.
Paddo (Ryan Corr) has been running the Copperheads while Knuck (Nable) rots in jail, building the club's empire to unforeseen levels of prosperity. He's smart and fair and loved by the men. But when Knuck gets out, the two butt heads over the direction and the two alpha males clash for supremacy and control.
Of course, each man has an Achilles heel. Paddo's is his simpleton idiot brother, Skink (Josh McConville), who can't stay out of trouble. At times it seems like Skink's problem is some trauma or PTSD, others is seems like drugs are his downfall, and still others he just seems like a moron. For Knuck, it's a secret he picked up in the joint that he can't share with anyone on the outside.
Outlaws, also known as 1%, watches like it's following a checklist. The plot sticks to the classic tragedy template so closely it lacks any sort of surprise or interest. It's like Shakespeare with rumbling Harleys and black leather, and it's painfully obvious where we're headed every step of the way. Quite simply, it never adds anything new to the recipe—it plays out as expected and ends precisely where you guess it will.
McCallum and Nable try to have it both ways. On one hand, Outlaws wants to be a brutal, bloody exploitation biker thriller. At times it accomplishes this—it culminates in a vicious, unsentimental climactic battle, and there's a lot of prison rape—but it never fully dives into the trash bin and wallows in the muck. And on the other hand, it aims to be a brooding meditation on violence with deep motivations and drives, an aim it also fails to achieve. Without committing to either approach, it can't strike a balance between high and low—it's never brutal enough to satisfy one ambition, nor deep enough to satisfy the other.
All the characters are stock types. Corr plays the noble hero with a new way, Nable the stubborn old guard who cares so much about power it blinds him to the benefits—he turns down a profitable business deal with a rival club out of sheer spite, because of course this character would.
And women have it worst of all. Outlaws is so manly only two female characters occupy any significant space. There are a few party girl hangers on, but only Abbey Lee's Katarina and Simone Kessell's Hayley have any bearing on the film—and their defined solely as Paddo and Knuck's old ladies, respectively. They exist primarily as sex objects or to lead the men to ruin like Sirens, feeding their egotistical ambitions, whispering betrayal and doubt into their ears.
Outlaws is a pretty film to look at, shot with no shortage of flair, and it might momentarily fill a Sons of Anarchy void, if you have such a gaping hole in your life. At times it strives for something different, but in the end, it never strays off of the established path and is a movie we've all seen many times. [Grade: C]
Posted by Brent McKnight at 9:59 AM
Labels: A24, Action, Bikers, Matt Nable, Movie Review, news, Outlaws, Ryan Carr, Stephen McCallum
'The Wave' (2019) Movie Review
Search The Last Thing I See
'This Is Our Home' (2019) Movie Review
UPDATED : The first 60 minutes of This is Our Home are a solid exercise in escalating tension, the deterioration of a relationship, an...
Brent's Top Ten Films of 2019
Once again, it's that time of year. I'm not a fan of ranking or even rating movies, though I do. (It's an unfortunate necessity.) Every...
'The Bygone' (2019) Movie Review
On the surface, The Bygone looks made for me. A sparse, gritty neo-western about clashing cultures, a disappearing way of life, hard-s...
'Underwater' (2020) Movie Review
Deep sea creature features tend to take a lot of guff for trying to be Alien but wet. I, for one, have zero problem with that. Space i...
'Cats' (2019) Movie Review
Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical Cats is well known for being weird-ass nonsense. Now imagine taking that weird-ass nonsense from the stag...
SIFF 2017: 'Time Trap' (2017) Movie Review
When a group of college students—and two tweens named Veeves and Furby, brought along for specious reasons—head into a mysterious cav...
The 50 Most-Anticipated Movies Of 2020
Now that 2019 is rapidly drawing to a close, and now that I've posted my best of 2019 list, it's time to turn our eyes forward to the f...
Gillie Klabin's gonzo indie sci-fi film, The Wave , opens with Frank (Justin Long). Celebrating a big work win, and because he hates hi...
Tweets by @BrentMMcKnight
Slamdance 2019: 'Behind The Bullet' (2019) Movie R...
Slamdance 2019: 'The Vast Of Night' (2019) Movie R...
Slamdance 2019: 'The Drone' (2019) Movie Review
Slamdance 2019: 'Beats' (2019) Movie Review
Slamdance 2019: 'Dons Of Disco' (2018) Movie Revie...
Slamdance 2019: 'Memphis '69' (2019) Movie Review
Slamdance 2019: 'Lost Holiday' (2019) Movie Review...
Slamdance 2019: 'Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story'...
Slamdance 2019: 'The Professional: A Stevie Blatz ...
10 Slamdance 2019 Films You Need To See
Harmony Korine's 'The Beach Bum' Trailer Has To Fe...
The 2019 Oscar Nominations Have Arrived
'Lords Of Chaos' Trailer: Black Metal, Church Burn...
This 'John Wick 3' Trailer Prepares For War And Cu...
Robert Pattinson And Claire Denis Explore The Dept...
Watch The First 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Traile...
Art Is Dangerous In The First 'Velvet Buzzsaw' Tra...
Jean-Claude Van Damme's 'The Bouncer' Gets A Dark,...
'Buffalo Boys' (2018) Movie Review
'Polar' Trailer: Mads Mikkelsen Does His Best Bada...
A Quick Note On Grading Movies
'The Drone' Trailer: 'Zombeavers' Director Returns...
The 2018 Online Film Critics Society Awards
Places I Write/Have Written For
Giant Freakin' Robot
Culture Mob
Northwest Meetings + Events
Movie Review (611) Action (572) Horror (493) Badass (337) Sci-fi (336) Comedy (155) SIFF (150) Thriller (116) Asian (110) TV (97) Martial Arts (94) Crime (86) Adaptation (81) Comic Book (75) DVD (68) Zombies (65) Superhero (60) Revenge (57) List (56) Blu-ray (53) Korea (50) The Walking Dead (40) Sequel (35) Book (32) Books (32) DTV (29) Adventure (28) Dystopian (28) Western (28) Teen (27) Spy (24) Splatter (23) Aliens (22) Nuts (22) Fantasy (21) Silly (20) Space (19) Mystery (18) Romance (17) Absurd (16) Musical (16) Bullshit (14) Top Ten List (14) disaster (14) Gore (13) Suspense (13) Bloody (12) Kids (12) Apocalypse (11) Prison (11) Sex (11) Romantic Comedy (10) Time Travel (10) Road Trip (9) Essay (8) Heist (7) Psychedelic (7) MMA (4) 3D (3) Mash-up (1) Nightfall (1)
Simple theme. Theme images by i-bob. Powered by Blogger.