Green Room – Film Review
Green Room is one of the darkest films I have seen all year, and is a thrill ride that I will not soon forget.
A heavy metal rock band attends a gig at a bar, where they encounter a large group of Neo-Nazis. After performing, the band gets trapped in the bar, where they have to fight for their survival.
Let me just start off by saying that Green Room is one of the biggest surprises of the entire year thus far. This is a film that, before seeing it, I had little interest in actually watching it. I was walking through a store though, I saw the film, and decided to pick it up and give it a watch. I am so glad I did that, as this is one of my favorite films of the entire year.
Patrick Stewart as Darcy in Green Room (2015)
Green Room boasts fantastic performances mainly by Anton Yelchin who portrays one of the band members, Pat. His performance is extremely real and raw, and you can feel the pain he has to endure throughout the film. Also great in Green Room is Patrick Stewart, who portrays the lead Neo-Nazi named Darcy. Stewart is one of the few actors that can go from playing a superhero to a cold-hearted Neo-Nazi almost perfectly.
Speaking of pain, there are a lot of gruesome moments in Green Room. Where some films can show violence, blood, guts, and gore for the pure element of shock value, Green Room utilizes it to show the audience and the characters in the film just how dangerous the Neo-Nazi characters are.
The film can feel a bit too fast paced at times, and also can be a bit hard to see exactly what is going on at times. It could have slowed down a bit too give our characters more development, and could have benefited from better lighting.
It also has seriously beautiful cinematography by Sean Porter. Much like the title itself, Green Room has a lot of shots that use the color green, which in some films can look downright ugly. But with this film, it all looks marvellously gorgeous. Many shots showcase trees and mountain tops and some scenes can look lush while simultaneously looking dull and hopeless, which is extremely clever as it creates a sharp contrast.
The film also contains an extremely great soundtrack, including amazing songs such as “Sinister Purpose” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, amongst others.
Green Room is an unapologetic thrill ride that is not afraid to show its true colors.
Overall Grade: A-
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong brutal graphic violence, gory images, language and some drug content
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole
Directed by: Jeremy Saulnier
Distributed by: A24
Running Time: 95 minutes