Punk music is raw and provoking. This movie is rawer ...

Rating: 6/10 (21 August 2016)

"Things have gone south, no doubt. But you know if you don't hand over that gun, it won't end well."
The advantage of watching a movie without any knowledge or awareness of what it's about initially, is that sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised. And that's what "Green Room" did. It surprised me. Either way, I thought it was already interesting because it was about the members of an obscure punk band called "The Ain't Rights". They travel across the U.S in a shabby looking Minivan, going from gig to gig. It's not exactly the comfortable life as that of a successful, richly paid rock-band. On the contrary. They look like undernourished, sleazy-looking bohemians. They don't even have enough money to buy fuel, so they can move on. I admit it. I envied this group of carefree teenagers whose favorite pastime is to produce raw, anarchic music. Spontaneously memories of such a rebellious life in a distant past started to flash through my mind. Yep, I was a little biased from the start.
When Pat (Anton Yelchin), Sam (Alia Shawkat), Reece (Joe Cole) and Tiger (Callum Turner) decide to accept one more gig, so they can earn some money, they didn't realize they would end up in a hornet's nest. The location where they have to perform is situated somewhere in a secluded forest with some bleak-looking shacks standing around. It appears to be a sort of camp for the local skinheads. After their concert, which they began with a passionate tribute to the Dead Kennedys by playing one of their classics "Nazi Punks F*ck Off", they are witnesses of a bloody crime. Somewhat later you see them barricading themselves in their dressing room, trying to negotiate with Darcy (Patrick Stewart) for a safe passage. Darcy seems to be the man who's running the place. As a result, a brutal fight starts with the elite troops of the skinheads (fearless gang members with red laces) who use all kinds of resources.
At first, I was expecting some sort of documentary-like film about the punk scene. However, when it slowly changed into a slasher and the first bloody confrontations was a fact, my enthusiasm was awakened. What's presented here, is pure aggression in its most explicit form. You'll get fury and brutality of an unprecedented nature. The ruthlessness with which the neo-Nazis try to eliminate the band, is fairly confrontational. Nothing is shown in veiled form. Violence hits you unmercifully like a sledgehammer. But not only the violence is explicit. Also the intensity and the rising tension in those claustrophobic rooms is at times unbearable. The overall setting in which the story takes place contributes to this for most part. Those dark corridors and dingy rooms. And the fact that both parties have no idea how to resolve the situation, just makes it even more interesting.
Biggest surprise for me was seeing Patrick Stewart as the charismatic leader of this subversive gang. He's better known as the more reserved and dutiful Captain Jean-Luc Picard. It felt a little weird to see him parading around as a kind of xenophobe who gives cold-blooded murderous orders to these far-right sympathizers. Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots tried to fight back in a fearsome manner. Both of them appeared already together in "Fright Night". But I'll always remember Yelchin as "Odd Thomas". He managed to survive in "Green Room". In real life however, he ran out of luck. His Jeep ,which was parked on a hill, struck him, because he left it in neutral. Well, life sucks!
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