Two men prepare to compete in a legendary bare-knuckle fight where the winner gets a $100,000 prize.
The misleading synopsis to writer/director Tim Sutton’s “Donnybrook” may bring to mind films like Ryan Coogler’s “Creed,” Dito Montiel’s “Fighting,” or Philippe Falardeau’s “Chuck” – underdog sports dramas about down-on-their-luck fighters facing their greatest opponents – along with their greatest demons – in the ring. While technically following the narrative structure of those films – two men do end up facing off against each other, and their demons, in a grimy cage – “Donnybrook” puts a heavy emphasis on “down-on-their-luck.” One would be hard-pressed to define it as a “sports drama.”
Darren Aronofsky’s infinitely superior “The Wrestler” might be a better comparison, wherein a slice of a downtrodden life is viewed through the prism of wrestling. Sutton’s bleak view of our nation’s rural underbelly is soaked through in darkness, his film oh-so-artfully wallowing in his despairing characters’ misery under the pretense of being an acute critique of this nation’s inherent barbarity and the struggles inflicted upon said bottom dwellers by the powers that be.
Jarhead Earl (Jamie Bell), an ex-marine, is struggling to take care of his ailing wife and two children. He robs a gun store and heads over to Donnybrook (his son in tow, for some reason), a backwoods cage match, where a mob of bare-knuckled fighters face off to win one hundred grand. His path inexplicably crosses with that of a local sadistic drug dealer, Chainsaw Angus (Frank Grillo) and his abused sister Delia (Margaret Qualley), both of whom are also on the way to Donnybrook.
Donnybrook represents some sort of screwed-up salvation – or perhaps Sutton is pointing out the dark irony that the only salvation offered to these people involves ultra-violence. Who knows. Anyway, there’s also a cop, Whalen (James Badge Dale), who saws off shotguns and has a vendetta against Angus, ultimately employing what may be the most futile assault tactic in cinematic history. Delia eventually switches sides, joining Jarhead on his journey, but Chainsaw won’t let her betrayal slide that easily.
There are no “good” people in “Donnybrook” – just folks struggling to survive, some more evil than others. The pace is as funereal as Phil Mossman’s score; the actual fighting doesn’t even occur until about an hour in. Sequences of extreme violence do precede it, however: a man gets beaten to a pulp, then fornicated with and shot; an innocent, kind stranger gets graphically stabbed in the throat; someone is shot in the stomach, while another hapless soul is brutally murdered in the woods; oh, and a child gets shot.
Morose and gratuitous? Sure, but you see – the filmmaker is making a point. In case you miss it, a character even wonders out-loud: “Where does success come from? Success is something you build long before a promotion or a job. It’s generations deep. How you take care of your family.” (As it happens, Chainsaw has his own definition of success.)
I do appreciate the clarity of Sutton’s vision, it’s just the end result is ouroboros-like, starting where it left off, a dismal elegy with no solution or respite in sight. The score is majestically epic as if the film were making grandiose statements about humanity. There are poetic moments scattered throughout, and the contrast between the two criminals – Jarhead driven to crime by circumstance, while Chainsaw consciously chooses to inflict savagery wherever he goes – works well. Sutton surely knows how to build tension and shoot powerful scenes. But the characters themselves are painted in unfinished strokes, glimmers of hope peeking through the darkness (both thematically and visually) mainly thanks to the actors’ performances.
“Donnybrook” is not without its merits, but it’s not as substantial as it thinks it is. A relentless assault of grimness, explicit violence, and desperation, it’s definitely not a pleasant experience – nor was it meant to be. Sutton’s extravaganza of brutality could be described as a horror movie masquerading as an acute sociopolitical commentary – or vice-versa. Bell and Qualley do their best to ground it with some soul; Grillo’s character is so one-dimensional, so determinedly irredeemable, he makes the Terminator seem cuddly and wise. “Donnybrook” commands your attention but leaves you disturbed and empty – and badly in need of a shower – after the credits roll.
In theaters Friday, February 15th
