After the success of Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier returns with Green Room in which a group of punk rockers have to fight for their own survival against a group of neo-Nazis. Trailers have so far been able to successfully showcase a variety of violence and an element of tension to this cat and mouse thriller, with Patrick Stewart menacingly providing his expertise as the big bad. With a strong cast and an interesting premise, Green Room started off by playing to a handful of festivals to strong critical acclaim. However as with Blue Ruin, I found myself having a slightly different experience.
First of all, let’s start off on the positives. The cinematography by Sean Porter is fairly solid. His best work comes from exterior shots, where he’s able to fully utilize his abilities to his full potential. However, as the film goes on, there’s more than one occasions in which some vital shots are too dark to make out and much of the action that we crave is unforgivably lost.
The cast is strong, with Anton Yelchin portraying Pat, the band’s bassist, as a likable, strong, underdog who the audience can easily sympathize with as he tries to control the situation to the best of his capabilities. We then have Imogen Poots who plays Amber, a witness to the murder, who is brash, sharp tongued and collected throughout, which is refreshing to see in a female character within the thriller genre.
Then there’s Patrick Stewart, who is able to bring his star power to the piece. A great bit of casting and a welcoming change of pace for the veteran star, who is able to portray the club’s owner and skinhead leader, Darcy Banker with cold, calculated authenticity. Although his accent wobbles from time to time, he’s still able to be one of the best things about the movie.
Unfortunately, however, the script feels flat and the premise never lives up to its full potential. The majority of the cast feel underwritten and lacking in any kind of personality. Once the protagonists become witnesses to the murder the movie starts to slip as the situation fails to gather any tension. Instead we’re witnesses to a series threats and insults and all too brief exchanges of violence which usually take place in darkness, making it hard to decipher what’s going on.
The main problem with Green Room is that it plays the same as any other movie in the genre, as it goes through the motions with very little shocks in store.
Overall, Green Room is a movie that lacks depth and personality. Much like Blue Ruin, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot here to merit any thrills, chills or shock value. The characters are bland, the script is uninspired and the whole thing plays out with little emotion. The only ‘character’ to generate any kind of feeling is an attack dog which by the end of the movie might make you tear up a little. The cast are somewhat underutilized with the exception to Patrick Stewart who is able to make this movie worthwhile.
If you enjoyed Blue Ruin then you’ll probably like this too. However if you were expecting something a little different, then you might as well give this one a miss.