In
my review of the previous installment of Nicolas Winding Refn’s shape-shifting
Los Angeles crime saga Too Old to Die Young,
I ended the article with a word of warning for what was ahead in the following
episode. Looking back that may have been
a fruitless effort on my part as there is quite simply nothing in the prior
episodes that will prepare you for what the Danish provocateur unleashes on the
unsuspecting viewer within the first five minutes.
Known
as the other episode screened at the Cannes Film Festival in a theater setting,
Refn opens on a sequence that does everything in its power to get you to turn
the show off and watch something else.
You’re either in or out and Refn gets that out of the way almost
immediately with the opening credits playing over the sounds of a gay gang rape
of an eighteen-year old boy enacted by middle-aged pornographer Stevie Crockett
(James Urbaniak), the next target of avenger Martin Jones (Miles Teller).
While
not much is shown, cutting away before the worst moments, the slow dialogue
driven buildup navigated by inarguably the most thoroughly and perversely
unsettling monologue delivered by an actor in years. From the way James Urbaniak says his lines
with a slow, asexual and amoral delivery to his thick rimmed glasses, cowboy
necklace and neatly dressed in black appearance, Stevie Crockett is dripping from
head to toe with indescribable evil and for the first time watching this Amazon
Studios series I felt really scared.
Soon
however, the episode shifts gears when Martin tracks down Stevie to his desert
hideout and while the tension is no doubt sustained and built up to a fever
pitch, it is here that the episode soon reverses itself and quickly becomes the
most exciting and satisfying action thriller piece since the director’s 2011
Cannes Film Festival favorite Drive. From the ironic use of Barry Manilow on the
soundtrack to one of the longest state-spanning high-speed car chases with
shotguns and pistols firing, Refn’s ability to bring the horrific opening of
his episode The Fool back full circle
to renew the audience’s investment in the series is a testament to his immense
talent as a filmmaker.
The
danger and evil permeating this episode is palpable while the denouement plays
like a reassuring hand on our shoulder whispering in everything will be
alright, of the episodes yet this is far and away the best and most challenging
one aired yet! Refn does everything in
his power to alienate the squeamish from the auditorium while testing his own
disciples’ endurance levels only to provide the sweetest of sweet rewards in
the end.
Make
no mistake, this is not something most people or even the staunchest of Refn
fans will tolerate. It is deliberately
offensive, transgressive and extreme.
And yet as with his previous theatrical feature The Neon Demon, this got such a full-blooded reaction from yours
truly I can’t help but praise it for Refn demonstrating all of his powers over
the cinematic medium and provide a most extraordinary viewing experience.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki