Savage (2009) Reviews

• Thought provoking and disturbing psychological thriller

  evastar132010-09-20

  Savage is a thought provoking and disturbing psychological thriller about a pleasant and well mannered young man who is subjected to a brutal assault in a random and unprovoked attack on the streets of Dublin. Some parts of the movie are quite violent and graphic but the main focus of the film is how he deals with the attack and the changes in his life following the assault. You will come away asking yourself just how thin is the veneer of civilisation, and just what would it take to unleash the savage in any one of us. Not what i would call a pleasant movie, but definitely not run of the mill. Well worth a watch.

• Fair crime drama

  regosbendeguz2010-09-19

  Years ago I had a chance to see one of the director's previous works, the short film "The ten steps". That was great, brilliant idea, scary atmosphere. Director Brendan Muldowney now completed his first feature film, Savage, just hitting cinemas. As its title refers, Savage is shocking, brutal, and disturbing. It shows Dublin's inner part when anti-social behavior is a part of every-day life, especially nighttime. Our hero, Paul (Darren Healy) doesn't care too much about it – actually, he makes a living of it by being a photographer -until he gets brutally attacked and that changes his life forever. A classic revenge tale, and as it is, there's no happy ending. We can see Paul changing, turning from quiet, shy guy into a real psycho. He tries hard to go on with his life – medicines, self-defense classes, gym, but even love can't turn him back from the way he entered and when he get closer and closer to his destiny. Main actor Darren Healy delivers his role brilliantly – however, as soon as he cuts his hair and puts his glasses away, he instantly turns into a bad-face thug, whom you wouldn't mess with. By changing his appearance, the illusion of the shy guy completely disappears. Main actress Nora-Jane No one is natural and beautiful. But even her care and love can't prevent the upcoming tragedy. Savage is not less that any other quality thriller nowadays. Well worth watching.

• A proper slow burner done right.

  disguisesin2015-02-16

  Watched this the other day after first hearing about it after watching the trailer for it. I found the film to be brilliantly shot by the DOP, written and directed by Brendan Muldowney. With a great lead performance by Darren Healy Hands down one of the best films I have seen in a long time and better than most of the independence films coming out of England which would have done a similar plot with a lot more unoriginal approach. A proper slow burner which takes time to build up the character of Paul Graynor who goes thought a number of different emotional states before a brutally dark, violence and realistic.

• Deeper than seems

  Walter_c2012-06-02

  First, I wanna quote FlashCallahan with his brilliant words that really express one of the main points of this movie: "the film carries some heavy morals about getting revenge, it can eat away at you and turn you into the one thing you despise.". This key idea is extremely important for all the mankind. And another key idea I saw is that violence generates violence - not a new one for me, but shown in a very illustrative way which reflects a deadlock principle "eye for eye". In fact, the main character's transformation into "the man, who is able to stand up" is a developmental dead end to a savage, not a human. Indeed, Darren Healy's character had no self-defense skills, probably, had no experience of being attacked or hurted, unable to fight. Anyway, his "compensation" all these missed things transformed him neither to a "real man", nor to human at all. The ability to kill, to revenge, to destroy is not a true attribute for a real man, if we refer it to human being. And revenge is displayed as more powerful thing than love, because even love cannot stop revenge from its destroying a person who chose it. The director of the film mercilessly destroyed the ideas of humanism, having carried them to our society. But in this way he strongly focuses on them, highly paying attention on the impossibility of their existence on the way the main character chose. Of course, the emphasized problem is always actual and very difficult. The difficulty is about what to do with a destroyed and changed life when society gives you 2 options - to follow it and substitute human concepts in which a man is a one who is able to kill and avenge (and degrade within), or to die from such concepts. No, a choice is always exists, but there is a very delicate balance between a right choice and those given options. Although the director told nothing in this film. This movie really impressed me, though I don't like violence on the screen. Especially I admired Darren Healy's play done. It's a harsh and rough film but it can make you think much.

• savage by name...........

  FlashCallahan2011-03-20

  it's your typical story about a man who is viciously attacked in the most horrid way possible, and then tries his hardest to stand up for himself. It's not the Paul Kersey way that makes you route for the good guy. this is a more sinister tale of coming to terms with your life. First of all, the film is not nice. It doesn't make for pleasant viewing, and there is absolutely no relief or no part of the film after the attack that brings any comfort whatsoever, but what makes the film so compelling is the performances from the leads, and how they handle the material given to them. The savage of the title never gets redemption for what happened to him, he just becomes a loner and spends more time with the thoughts and voices in his head. To us, he is a lonely desperate man, but to others, he is a menace, depicting the people who caused his turnaround. The final ten minutes are truly awful, and very gruesome, and the film finishes abruptly and leaves you feeling dirty. All in all, the film carries some heavy morals about getting revenge, it can eat away at you and turn you into the one thing you despise. The film if viewed in a different way could be a warning about the dangers of steroids. What happens to him throughout the film emulates the typical steroid user (castration) your 'member' shrinks, you go bald, you become depressed and you become aggressive. a remarkable film