ASSAULT ON WALL STREET

2013 / Director. Uwe Boll.
Review by Glenn Cochrane.

Director Uwe Boll cops a bad wrap. He is often touted as the "worst director" of all time and ridiculing him has become a sport amongst the nerdier film circles. None of that sits right with me and I have a strong admiration for him as a filmmaker. He works outside of the studio system and dares to make BIG films on small budgets. Sure, he's made some bad ones... but where's the due credit for his good ones? Some that come to mind are STOIC, RAMPAGE, DARFUR, TUNNEL RATS and MAX SCHELLING. When you give his films some attention I think it's hard to deny his talent and the amount of work he pumps out is prolific. ASSAULT ON WALL STREET can be added to that list. This new indie film might just surprise a lot of people with its unexpectedly gritty and emotionally driven story of a man pushed too far. Dominic Purcell stars as a husband who loses everything when his wife becomes ill, his stock-market shares disintegrate and the banks come after him for everything he's worth. He is the victim of corporate greed and criminal bureaucracy. When he reaches boiling point he has nothing left to lose and unleashes an almighty blow to Wall Street by the way of killing every criminal motherfucker pulling the strings and screwing over the little guys. Yes it's a formulaic vigilante story and yes it is contrived and cliched at times... but we are compensated by a surprisingly well structured script that puts all of its energies into character development. This man's despair is fleshed out well and Uwe Boll has done a great job in giving his actions substance and justification. Dominic Purcell isn't exactly the greatest of actors but he has a firm grip on this character. He's very likable on screen and his emotional journey is believable. He is also surrounded by an unexpectedly good support cast including Michael Pare, John Heard, Keith David, Edward Furlong, Eric Roberts and Lochlyn Munro. They all offer understated and modest turns and Locklyn Munro is the biggest surprise as a shrewd high-end financial adviser. When the action kicks in, it's great. It's quick, it's violent and it's confronting.... and it never overstays its welcome. If you can accept that ASSAULT ON WALL STREET walks a well treaded path and is plays on several overused cliches then you might be surprised with the rest of it. 

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