Raze (2013)

Every person in this world has his/her own way of thinking and judging things as per his/her wishes, but after watching the movie "raze", it left me thinking what was the theme of making such a movie; in which women are shown fighting for their life just to please some rich people ultimately saving their loved ones or get killed if negated too. This is such a sick movie where women are shown as pets fighting for their lives while rich people watch and make fun out of it. I really didn't like the idea of treating women in this fashion as women is a symbol of love, affection, tenderness, cuteness, beauty, prettiness and sacrifice; where as in this movie they are shown as fierce animals who are ready to kill another women for the sake of saving their beloveds and ultimately providing entertainment to the high classes of the society. I will rate this movie two out of ten; as I don't like the idea nor I don't like the story and the same can be judged with the amount of box office earning for this movie on Wikipedia.

Fmovies: When I read the synopsis in the Fantasia Film Festival program, I was intrigued. Even though the premise was about abducted women, it did not seem like your typical movie about helpless women tortured under the hand of men. It also did not seem like a cliché women on women violence type of movie. It also used words like "empowered" and "different".

And so I went in expecting just that. Something different. I especially went in expecting this movie to make some kind of statement about the way this society views women in general. I actually thought that the organization that abducts the women was a metaphor for the patriarchal system and that the "empowered" women portrayed would eventually break free from that system.

And so when the movie ended, I felt let down. Like somehow, the filmmaker was telling us that no matter how hard we fought, we could not defeat the system.

I was lucky enough to attend a screening after which the director of the movie as well as the principal actress were both there to answer questions from the audience. And so when I pointed that out, the filmmaker became defensive and explained that he did not want to make any kind of political statement whatsoever and that he just wanted to give us an "enjoyable fun movie to watch with lots of fighting." He also made a point to tell me that if it had been men fighting, I wouldn't have made the comment I made.

Exactly. But this movie was about women, strong women, who were imprisoned by a cruel system forcing them to fight one another. It had everything in place to make a strong statement, give us something to reflect upon and do what a good movie should always do: teach us something.

And yet, this movie has no depth and isn't different from any other action movie with fights. To be "different", this movie needed a message beyond "look, chicks fighting and it looks real!".

In the end, the plot of "Raze" falls into the typical normalization of helpless women forced to behave a certain way by an oppressive system passed on from father to son. To me, this is the precise opposite of "empowered".

I'm awfully disappointed.

This is without a doubt one of the most pointless movies that I have seen. The storyline is nearly non-existing. Basically this is a movie about a group of women held captive and forced to fight one another to the death, under the threat of harm and death to their loved ones.

And that was it.

Sure, there were some good enough fight scenes throughout the movie, but it hardly made up for the total and complete lack of a proper storyline.

And truth be told, I actually fell asleep during the movie, only to wake up because of some loud noise from the movie. And even having slept for a part of the movie, I was missing not a single beat of what was going on; women having to kill each other.

While the cast were doing good enough jobs with their given roles, they just had nothing to work with and whatever was there was stacked against them. The characters were meaningless and without any background stories, which ultimately made you distance yourself from them, as there was nothing to care about or anything to be drawn in by.

There are some fairly brutal moments throughout the movie, but again, this does absolutely nothing to make up for the horrible lack of a proper storyline.

All in all, then "Raze" is a pointless movie experience about violence amongst captive women. I believe if you are a fan of anyone on the cast list that you might find some enjoyment in this movie. Otherwise, then I find it next to impossible to find any reason for recommending you wasting your time on this.

Raze fmovies. After reading several reviews claiming this movie was sexist and what not,I was a bit reluctant to watch it;I mean,you watch a movie to have a good time,not to spoil your mood,right? So anyway,I did watch it and it deeply disturbed me. First of all,it is not sexist or against women or anything..it is based on the creepy people who get a kick out of bare-hand-naked-weapon woman-on-woman death fights. There have been similar movies in the past with men being captured and made to fight,but this one has women instead. And that makes a lot of difference.

I liked how they've shown the way these women operate when put in such depressing conditions. Inspite of all the gore and helplessness and literally,no ray of hope in any form,some women still bond and such moments make good breathers in an otherwise dark movie. Coming to the performance,I loved Zoe Bell,Rachel Nichols and the ones who play Cody,Theresa and Pheobe. Had it not been for Pheobe,the movie would lose it's dark charm.So she did well.

Overall,I wouldn't call this movie entertaining,at least for women.It is dark,brutal and very violent.Watch it for the spin in the otherwise washed out death-tournament genre and if you are not faint hearted. Also,it's a bogeyman in my collection,because I never imagined a horror without a ghost.The horror rating is justified. Watch it.

There is no general theatrical or digital release date yet for Raze (as of this post), so I can't tell you when you might see it, but it's worth a look for fans of horror or, well, tournament fighting movies. This movie is very lean. It doesn't include anything it doesn't need. Women who are athletic or who have some sort of fighting experience are being kidnapped, held in some hidden underground prison, and forced to fight to the death, for the entertainment of rich folks of course. If the women lose or refuse to fight, their closest loved ones will be killed. Doug Jones and Sherilyn Fenn are the cheerfully creepy married couple running things. Zoe Bell, also a producer, is one of the fighters, killing to help protect a daughter she hasn't seen in many years. Other fighters include familiar faces like Rachel Nichols, Tracie Thoms, and Rosario Dawson. It's very dark, and brutally violent, but not exploitative. It's not "sexist sh1t!" as one unhappy viewer shouted at the director and star after our screening (though he still stayed for the entire film). I couldn't say anything about the most surprising or rewarding bits of the movie without major spoilers, so let me just say do NOT be deterred by the low IMDb rating. It's a good one!

The subject matter of this prison/cage fighting movie is pure exploitation, and it is marketed as such rather adroitly. However, by the time the first fight scene has concluded, there is little in the way of cheap thrills to be had from this sort of thing, and instead, we're presented with the kind of gritty brutality that only comes along in indy, low-budget concept pieces like this, from Josh Waller, directing his feature film debut with a lot of grass-roots style and a panache that is all the more skillful in its' lack of show-off techniques. Instead, we're given a very raw, lean piece of work which focuses on violence, rather on well-crafted fight scenes, despite the presence of a well-choreographed team of stunt performers, fronted by one of the most physically talented stuntwomen in the business, Zoe Bell.

There is little time devoted to navel-gazing, and yet the characterisation does sometimes feel a little on the clunky side, although it is doubtful that its' absence would provide us with anything better. Without it, there would be fight after fight, followed by scenes of painful silence, and the full horror of the situation. Whilst the teary eyed drama makes a precarious balance with the blood and guts of the fight scenes, perhaps the most impressive feature here is the sense of hopelessness which is created. Hopeful, this movie isn't, and in many ways, it's an adult, and female, version of "Lord of the Flies", only with a more artificially constructed set up. The idea here, is that by fighting, killing and surviving, the survivor of this ordeal will become somehow awakened, enlightened, and open themselves up to a wider world of awareness. That this idea is set up by a bunch of mad-eyed religious fanatics strains credibility, although the contrast between opulent upper class, and filthy stone-walled dungeons is nothing new, yet remains valid. The ending tells us, quite simply, that this is a load of rubbish, and, rather than being designed for this purpose, the idea of nobility through killing, of a "Napoleon" complex, is a myth, and that killing actually provides nothing but thrills for the rich, and that, for the survivor, no matter how tough she is, they will always be stronger. Contrived? Perhaps. But the drama is played out convincingly, and the power of the hellish fight scenes is arguably as anti-stereotypical as anything seen in films. There are not a series of carefully contrived, well-scripted and erotically filmed scenes of rolling around and grunting. This is brutal, survival of the fittest stuff, and the edginess of the movie's central dilemma – kill to save your loved ones, or do nothing and let them die – is well utilised. The tagline; "No man could handle this" is well put; This scenario with a male cast would scarcely feature the same level of horror, and uneasiness, and the reversion to savagery would be far less of a shock.

Acting is generally nothing special, but then, the real drama of this situation comes not from the script, or the over-embellishment of certain of the actresses, but in the heat of the fight sequences, in the minute reactions, in the bursting of the welled up emotions and fears, and in sharing that feeling. It's a film not so much about the journey of its characters, or their own personal features, but rather, about seeing how you would react in this situation yourself; in short, it is a film which speaks directly to the audience, with a well-shaped hell of anti-humanity. Throughout the entire ninety min