I AM WRATH (2016)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Chuck Russell
Cast: John Travolta, Christopher Meloni, Amanda Schull, Sam Trammell, Patrick St. Esprit, Luis Da Silva Jr., Asante Jones, Doris Morgado, Rebecca De Mornay
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 12 May 2016

Synopsis: Unemployed engineer Stanley Hill (John Travolta) witnesses the murder of his wife Vivian (Rebecca De Mornay), who was attacked by thugs in a parking garage. Wracked with guilt, Stanley is haunted by the image of Vivian dying in his arms. When Detective Gibson (Sam Trammell) and other corrupt police officers are unable to bring the killers to justice, Stanley turns to his old friend Dennis (Christopher Meloni) and decides to take matters into his own hands.

Movie Review:

How in the world did John Travolta end up in the VOD circuit? Seriously, dissecting his flagging big screen career is far more interesting than this cheap Taken-rip off.

Travolta plays Stanley Hill who witnessed the brutal murder of his wife (Rebecca De Mornay in a fleeting 5 minutes appearance) in a seemingly ordinary robbery. When the police releases the killer after Hill managed to point him out, Hill decides to use his special set of hidden skills to exact revenge and take out the killers one by one.    

If you have watched the trailer, you will know obviously I Am Wrath is not a painstakingly crafted movie nor does it boast a budget of say, Face/Off. The movie attempts to create some commentary about a decaying society especially with all those news footages in the opening to tell us how high and violent the crime crates are. Then we realize later that the governor is actually corrupt and the two detectives handling the case as well. So the bad guys are actually working for the supposedly good guys and please keep in mind almost every bad guy in the movie wear tattoos which make for easy identification.

Sadly, the writers aren’t that capable to pull off such an ambitious project about corrupt police and dirty politics. The narrative is wafer thin with the acting and dialogue cheesier than a bag of nachos. The story is basically a setup for Hill and his buddy, Dennis (Christopher Meloni from Man of Steel) to drift from scene to scene firing their pistols, exchanging wisecracks and manhandle a couple of thugs who talk tough but fight like wussies.

Not that it would have been any better, I Am Wrath was originally meant to be directed by William Friedkin and star Nicolas Cage but talks fell through and Travolta stepped into the project replacing his Face/Off co-star. Trust me, it’s not like Travolta can’t play a tough guy but an Irish guy named Liam Neeson was way too ahead of him. Not forgetting Keanu Reeves’ John Wick and Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer, all the afore-mentioned movies in addition to their charismatic leading man boast niftier action sequences, better stories and handsomer production values.   

Chuck Russell (The Mask, Eraser), whose last feature movie was The Scorpion King in 2002, certainly has chosen the wrong movie to make his Hollywood comeback. John Travolta on the other hand needs to replace his agent immediately and get a better stylist as well. Just don’t hire the same people who worked on Cage’s toupee. 

Movie Rating:

(I Am BORED)

Review by Linus Tee