Liam Neeson isn’t the only avenger of the abducted and protector of the vulnerable out there: In “Vigilante – Until the Last Breath” Olivia Wilde takes on battering husbands and abusive mothers. Now on Prime Video!
With his role in “96 Hours – Taken”, Liam Neeson entered a new career phase: While the Northern Irishman had previously appeared in films from a wide range of genres, since then he has almost exclusively starred in action thrillers and has almost become synonymous with the tough avenger and protector, even if he has now strictly speaking become too old for the roles and the associated action scenes. But there are other films (and actors) in the genre!
One of them is “Vigilante”, in which Olivia Wilde (“Tron: Legacy”, “Don’t Worry Darling”) takes on the role of the avenger and protects families from violent husbands and murdering mothers. The successful mix of hard-hitting revenge thriller and sensitive psycho-drama is now available to stream for free with your Amazon Prime Video subscription:
Director Sarah Daggar-Nickson’s “Vigilante” is about a woman’s quest for revenge from a consistently female perspective, but without slipping into the typical metier of rape-&-revenge thrillers. Far from lurid showmanship, her approach to the subject is very serious and authentic – and thus refreshingly different.
OLIVIA WILDE CONVINCES AS A MULTI-LAYERED AVENGER
In particular, Olivia Wilde inspires in the leading role because she not only brings her character Sadie to life credibly as a tough fighter and avenger, but also ensures that she always remains human despite her icy façade. A scene in which Sadie reveals her motivation for her life as an avenger is particularly intense and touching.
Daggar-Nickson also finds the right balance in the perpetrator-victim attributions, because she impressively shows that there are not only perpetrators but also perpetratresses – unfortunately, however, the debut director (“A Vigilante” is her first and so far only feature film) does not keep up this tightrope walk until the end.
Without giving too much away: In the film’s finale, Daggar-Nickson turns to well-trodden genre paths after all, but the brutal showdown doesn’t fit in at all with “A Vigilante”, which until then had seemed so realistic. Nevertheless, we give it a good 3.5 out of 5 stars and a clear recommendation for all fans of psychological thriller cinema.
