Powerful

Good concept, poorly executed.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I happened to pick this movie as I was just browsing through the selections of "free" movies on our on demand cable page. And I'm glad that I did! I really like revenge type movies, and this one does not disappoint! However, it does differ from the straight up killing/mayhem that some of this genre get into. This film has more of a political/social component that combines John Doe's actions with the state of the society around him. And with that, society's effect on him, and then, his effect on society! And, for my tastes, there is the killing for revenge too!

-John Doe: Vigilante (2015) movie review: -John Doe is a masked vigilante who does out on the streets and hunts down serial killers so he can somewhat brutally murder them. Lovely. One of the unique things about this indie film is that you get to hear both sides of the story, one of them from John Doe who has already been caught and arrested, and another from the media and police, which many films dealing with vigilantes focus less on.-So is this a sort-of superhero film or a crime flick? The film brings the moral issues of taking the law into your own hands and give it to you right out of the gate, leaving it to the audience to decide what side to choose. I like that the film is impartial about it, I really do. And I really liked the film for the most part.-The character backstory is set up like a superhero film, minus the powers and rule against killing. However the non-linear story helped lay the moral point out in a way that they build on each other from multiple perspectives, which is really good! -The pace was too quick I think. It could have taken longer to wait before just jumping us into it, but it never really got slow.-The acting was good. Jamie Bamber, Apollo from BSG, stars as John Doe and offers a very deep, compelling performance to a character like this. It has some other actors I didn't know and they did a good job but nobody else really stood out.-The character of John Doe is a really compelling character because of haw many questions he brings up. The caution he takes is admirable and you can't feel bad for the horrible people he ills, but does it justify killing them? He offers more depth than just that, but I can't say too much. The media characters are pretty interesting, as well as the detectives in charge of the case. There is also a following John Doe develops that take his vigilante thing the wrong way, which is interesting to look at. A certain Batman film did that too if I recall.-Some of the music seemed low budget, but some other parts sounded really good. So mixed bag here.-There are some CGI effects in the film that are not great, but to make up for that, the practical effects in the film are impressive. There are a few scenes where I just do not know how they made something look so realistic. I will get back to that in my content section.-John Doe: Vigilante offers some new elements to an inflated hero/crime genre through unique storytelling elements and some really good moral questions and effects. It did not seem like a super high-budget film at times, but that has cult-classic written all over it. Being a limited release film, I cannot say it is worth seeing in theaters. However John Doe: Vigilante is totally worth checking out! -John Doe: Vigilante holds an R rating, naturally, for some language throughout and some rather violent images and themes. Thus the rally good practical effects. Violence on par with Daredevil and language with the first Punisher. Seems fitting.-So have you seen John Doe? It probably means you are a serial killer and have not long to live. I would run. Like now.

Writer & director Kelly Doan's "John Doe, Vigilante" qualifies as the most provocative contemporary vigilante thriller since the Charles Bronson "Death Wish" movies. This message-laden saga is at once both issue-oriented as well as action-packed with at least three surprises. The inherent weakness here is that Dolan and scenarist Stephen M. Coates don't develop the characters sufficients and everything is a bit too neat to be entirely believable. Nevertheless, "Joe Doe Vigilante" is quite often a gripping film. An anonymous individual who dons a white mask and a hoodie doles out rough justice in a variety to ways. The eponymous hero, however, confines himself to killing either criminals or people who have gotten away with their heinous crimes. Television news reporter Sam Foley (Gary Abrahams), who has covered Joe Doe's killing spree, points out the problem to fellow journalist Ken Rutherford (Lachy Hulme) about a half-hour into this compelling but loquacious 93 minute melodrama. Foley explains, ". . . the system as it stands, it doesn't work." Foley elaborates, "We're too politically correct. It's all about the perp's rights. The preps get their way. The victims end up getting screwed. And when you go to court, if you're lucky enough to get to court, the courts end up editing the victim's impact statement." Soon afterward, Sam compares a vigilante to a soldier. "A vigilante is simply somebody who violates the law in order to punish a criminal for what they believe is right, for what they believe is justice. So what then do you call a country who sends soldiers to kill people in places like Afghanistan or Iran, Iraq, Korea, Vietnam, in the name of what they believe is right, in the name of what they believe is justice? That country is a vigilante, pure and simple. Only, when a country does it, people call it war, and nobody bats an eyelid. But when a country does it, they aren't anywhere near as clinical or as careful as someone like Joe Doe. And that country ends up killing thousands of innocent women and innocent children."John Doe (Jamie Bamber of "Battlestar Galactica") is a decent individual who can no longer tolerate a flawed justice system that allows criminals get away with their crimes. He is a combination of Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey in "Death Wish" and Peter Finch's Howard Beale from "Network." He takes justice into his own hands and kills child molesters, wife beaters, and other criminals. The plain mask that he wears represents a kind of objectivity that his notorious exploits encapsulate. Eventually, his vigilantism inspires a conservative, grass roots movement that labels themselves "Speak for the Dead." These people take it upon themselves to punish lawbreakers that the justice system refuses to punish. Dolan and Coates relate the action in flashback, and they outline the vigilante history of our sympathetic hero. Before the jury delivers its verdict, Joe Doe is in custody, and he consents to an jail house interview with Ken Rutherford. The big surprise comes here. Despite its garrulous nature, "John Doe Vigilante" is an intelligent film that doesn't pander with his many brutal killings. Dolan doesn't whip us up into a frenzy. He lens everything from an impersonal point of view until he shows our hero in a podcast confronting the man who inspired him to embark on his vigilante path. At its worst, "John Doe Vigilante" is pretentious but articulate. The ending may not come as a surprise to some, but it is unlike anything we've seen before. Any time that I can watch a movie completely in one sitting, I know that the filmmakers have done something right. Some movies you have to break up into a number of different viewings, but I had no problem watching "John Doe Vigilante" from start to finish late one evening and wrote this review during the process.

Movies with a message are by their nature problematic.David Schwimmer for example did a film about teenage girls and the internet. It was more message than movie and for that reason it may well be already lost to time.On the other hand Paddy Chayefsky's NETWORK was both a message and a film opus. Fantastic movie and it will live forever on the "top 10" lists of viewers all over the globe.This Aussie effort, featuring a FANTASTIC performance by Bamber, who, to dig out the old cliché, does silent dialog using only his eyes, gives you a nice slow start and then builds and builds and builds.The best thing about it is that it keeps the viewer off-balance right to the end, achieved by some of the best editing of "flashbacks" I have seen since the days of Sergio Leone.There is a particular scene at the 1:19 mark involving a small child who "thanks" Bamber that is likely the highlight. True to form, not even this scene ends the way we might expect.Recommended.