I Am Wrath (2016)

Sat, 16 April 2016: I just watched this movie. It was good, Not a lot of useless unnecessary profanity and not a lot of violence on women, so those two things gained points with me from the start. After having seen so many films of this type, the revenge action is predictable. We know what is going to happen from mid way to the very end, but it is still worth watching. I was once told by my college professor that every movie or t.v show idea has been done at least once, sometimes twice or even three times. For example, how many vampire movies have been done with a new twist or movies about going in space?

Writers are just adding a new twist on an old idea, but it still nice to see them. Case in point the very ending when the daughter played by actress Amanda Schull is in front of her home with husband and son get a postcard from Brazil, hum does that seem a tiny bit like the great Morgan Freeman getting a postcard from Tim Robbins in the classic film "Shawshank Redemption" ?

John Travolta is good, but for this type of action film, he is not quite up to the great Liam Neeson or Denzel Washington. I liked John's actions scenes much better in his film "From Paris with Love". The best action fight scene in this film is with his co-star, Christopher Meloni in the barber shop fight scene which take it's cue from Denzel's night club fight scene in "The Equalizer" where he slice and dice up several Russian thugs in short order.

Also there is pretty eye candy for us men who like to see pretty women and that is pretty Cuban Latina Doris Morgado. I have never seen her before, but I like to see her again.

Fmovies: John Travolta gets his own Taken with I Am Wrath. Chuck Russell's film is a hard-edged action thriller that keeps things simple over the course of its lean 90 minute running time.Travolta is Stanley Hill, a family man with a dark past who springs to action when his wife (Rebecca De Mornay) is murdered. Infuriated that the police appear to have no interest in solving the case, Hill goes on the warpath to bring the culprits to justice. I Am Wrath is a nuts and bolts action movie and Russell cuts to the chase from the get-go. He uses Travolta's natural charm as the lynchpin for the story, knowing that he can deal with the emotional aspects of the role as well as the action.

I am so sick of reading reviews that are savagely critical of a movie, although it's obviously not one of Travlota's best and the fact that he is clearly not in his prime physically etc etc blah blah, this movie is a solid effort and worth a look. Note to reviewers: Being so negative and savagely critical to a movie does NOT show that you are an expert, especially you fellow wannabes here on IMDb, it just shows what a boof head you are, Try being constructive and tell the readers what is worth watching about the movie. Travolta and most of the main cast provide a very passable acting effort, a couple of the bad guys acting was not really that great but on the whole... as a story I found it enjoyable to watch. I doubt I would go back for seconds, but can't understand some of the other comments on this page.

I Am Wrath fmovies. 'I Am Wrath' is very moving film - it is not hard to move on after first fifteen minutes. I managed to sit through it somehow. It's almost like John Travolta wanted to make a lousy parody of Nicolas Cage. 'John Wick' made revenge movies look cool again, and 'I Am Wrath' really tries to emulate similar coolness but it falls out like toothless alligator trying to eat buffalo. Travolta and Christopher Meloni has good chemistry between them, but the script is too shallow that the actors don't have enough material to work on. It uses every, absolutely every known cliché to human kind, that all the twists of the film can be guessed at the opening credits even if you have turned off your brain almost comatose like state. No surprises, no style. Totally unnecessary movie.

Oh yeah, John Travolta's hairpiece deserves it's own movie.

Travolta, not a guy who brings my curiosity into watching movies, but as we can mostly agree, a great actor, does the perfect credible tough guy with this movie. His actual BMI, his talent and of course the simpleness of this movie brings the spectator a trip back where movies were about their genre, in this case an action movie. There is no life changing message in this one, you won't cry or laugh, you'll just have a great time, with credible characters, a bit of fantasy perceived as luck and a simple plot that works like a clock. I wish this movie had as much credit as it deserves. My personal (yet insignificant) congratulations to all the cast. I hope they keep on pursuing this style, it really tires to have 2 decades of heroes with who look like Ken from Barbie.

"I Am Wrath" feels familiar. There is a trope called "mugging the monster," in which villains mistakenly target somebody with a particular skill set and receive their comeuppances in spades. Usually, the individual is reluctant to rely upon those skills or wants to suppress that part of their life. It was used to introduce Frank's martial arts talents in both "The Transporter" and "The Transporter Refueled." It may be a scene played for comic effect or to round out a character in movies like "Crocodile Dundee," an unexpected wrinkle in movies like "Air Force One," and occasionally the premise of the movie, as in "First Blood," "John Wick" or "A History of Violence." It is perhaps a sort of fantasy fulfillment for anybody who has been victimized. Wouldn't we all like to have the powers and abilities of a superhero, crime lord or kung fu master to turn life's misfortunes to our advantage and simultaneously discourage the criminals and jerks of the world from repeating or continuing their repugnant behavior?

IAW is not terribly original; however, it is competently executed. The villains are suitably sleazy, violent and remorseless. They aren't the vilest lot of malcontents by a long shot, but they provide a suitable level of threat. The plot is familiar, but is only an excuse for the action scenes. There are no car chases, pyrotechnics or extended scenes of unarmed combat, although there are a few brief fights. It's mostly threats followed by gunplay without any elaborate choreography. Production values are adequate, although Travolta's wig is noticeable and distracting.

Travolta has done much better work as a tough guy, notably in Luc Besson's "From Paris with Love." Here he is not given a multi-layered, finely nuanced character and makes little effort to bring new dimensions to a sparsely developed script.

The movie is boosted considerably by a couple of the supporting roles. Christopher Meloni steals his scenes as the sidekick/guardian. Sam Trammell's look of boyish innocence cloaks a dark side to his character.

The script was written by Paul Sloan, who also plays the villain Lemi K, and was originally in development with Nicolas Cage set to star and William Friedkin directing, but somehow that fell through. The script seems a couple drafts short of complete. It feels as if it was written with franchise ambitions. The title, Stanley's tattoo and the buddy relationship with Dennis all scream comic hero series. However, it fails to develop Stanley as a continuing character or to leave him in a situation to continue his vigilantism.

The result is a film that is an entertaining diversion but largely forgettable.