Green Room is an intense, crazy and ugly experience…in the best way possible. It’s a horror film in the truest sense and it’s one of the better films you will see in any genre.
The film follows punk band The Ain’t Rights consisting of Pat (Anton Yelchin), Sam (Alia Shawkat), Reece (Joe Cole) and Tiger (Callum Turner) as they play a show for a group of Neo Nazis in Portland. Things go wrong as they walk in on a murder and all four are trapped in the Green Room of the venue along with Amber (Imogen Poots). The Neo Nazis, led by the intimidating Darcy (Patrick Stewart), try to kill them before dawn.
The most striking aspect of Green Room is how it turns so many genre cliches on their heads. The violence is handled in a visceral, savage way. Death is dolled out in such an ugly way, you literally feel it in your gut. The camera work is claustrophobic, throwing the audience is thrown into the middle of the chaos. There’s no stylized violence here.
The central kids at the center of the film make all of the violence feel more tragic. Pat, Sam, Reece and Tiger who simply live to play their music. They’re young, cocky and invincible in their own eyes. There is constant talk of being “legit” when we first meet them…image is everything for them.
But when the attacks begin, all of that goes out the window. Even the “toughest” of them, Reece, falters as the situation escalates. Green Room doesn’t turn any of the characters into supermen (or women) who can suddenly take on several thousand thugs. They are all scared kids and they are portrayed that way.
The story is solid, unwinding the mysterious reasons for the murder that sets off the events in the film in an interesting way. However, this cliche is turned on its head. The motive is eventually put aside to concentrate on the characters’ fight for survival. And any advantage the characters get…a plan to get out or a gun…is almost always ineffective. In this world, just because a character has a gun doesn’t mean that you’re suddenly Rambo. They die just as easily as before.
All of the actors are great in their roles. Anton Yelchin is the “everyman” of the group. His “pep talk” is a standout moment that pretty much sums up the film. Imogen Poots is great as Amber, the only one who seems to truly understand what the characters are up against. There is a mystery about her throughout…is she one of the skin heads? Can they trust her? Poots constantly makes Amber walk that line. And Patrick Stewart is coldly intimidating as Darcy. He isn’t a sadist, but a man who simply knows what he has to do. His single minded nature is what makes him scary.
The most important aspect of every character in Green Room is that they are all human. This is not to say the skin heads are portrayed in a sympathetic way…that would make this film worrisome. Everyone in this film is portrayed as human…imperfect, sometimes savage creatures. Nobody comes out clean when you’re fighting for your life.
Green Room isn’t an easy watch, but if you take a chance on it, you will be rewarded with an intense experience you won’t forget.
SCORE: 10 out of 10
P.S. Green Room has one of my favorite last lines of all time.