I have been waiting with a lot of excitement and anticipation for the movie Green Room to come out. That is because it is directed by Jeremy Saulnier. His name may not sound all that familiar right now, but I’m guessing that in time he will be a director everyone knows by name. In 2013 he released his second feature length movie Blue Ruin to a ton of praise from critics and movie buffs alike. Blue Ruin was an intense thriller that was able to show acts of violence in a real and unique way. His new movie Green Room does the exact same thing and it also has one of the coolest and most original concepts I’ve seen in quite a while.
Green Room is about a punk band called the Ain’t Rights which consists of Pat (Anton Yelchin), Sam (Alia Shawcat), Reece (Joe Cole), and Tiger (Callum Turner). They are on a shoestring budget tour playing anywhere they can. Around Portland, Oregon they are interviewed by a college radio DJ and a gig doesn’t pan out the way they want it to. The DJ works out a deal with them and gets them a gig at a neo-Nazi skinhead club located out in the woods. The club is owned by an English skinhead named Darcy (Patrick Stewart) and after they play they head on back to the green room, but the staff tells them that the headlining band is already in there. Sam notices she left her phone in there so Pat goes to grab it and sees something he isn’t suppose to. After that the band is forced into the green room and tension starts to build because they know they may have to fight their way out.
I was really glad to hear that Anton Yelchin was starring in this movie. I first saw him in the very underrated movie Alpha Dog (2006) and ever since I have been a big fan of his. In Green Room he acts in a similar way as he did in Alpha Dog. In both movies he is able to play a character who is emotionally wrecked due to the extreme situations he finds himself in. Patrick Stewart was also pretty good although I would say his performance isn’t quite what you would expect considering he is playing the head of a neo-nazi skinhead gang. He plays the character very matter of factly and it is a very quiet performance. He never once goes over the top or chews up any scenery which is what I think most people would do with that role.
The thing that I love most about Green Room is that it builds effective tension. The whole movie kind of feels like a roller coaster ride. There are ups and downs and also twists and turns. Overall this movie hit almost all the right spots for me because I love a good siege movie and the premise for this siege movie is fantastic. Green Room reminded me a bit of John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) which is probably the closest movie I could compare this movie to.
Another thing I really liked about Green Room is that it shows you the perspective of both the punk band and the neo-nazi skinheads trying to kill them. Obviously the neo-nazi skinheads are the bad guys but the movie never gets into their politics and it never treats them like unrealistic monsters. They could have easily just been a biker gang or far left revolutionaries. Sure they are vicious and violent, but the movie also does a pretty good job at humanizing them. I like that the filmmakers went with skinheads though because racist skinheads have always had some sort of a connection with hardcore punk rock.
Green Room is an extremely violent movie although I wouldn’t say that it is gratuitous in it’s violence. This movie could have easily been made as an Eli Roth type of violent horror movie porn, but it isn’t. The director Jeremy Saulnier makes every moment of violence mean something and those scenes are shot in a very artistic way. Every time you see someone get stabbed or shot it feels realistic and gritty in a way that most horror or action movies just don’t pull off these days.
This movie certainly isn’t for everyone. I was really into though because I love violent siege movies and I also really like hardcore punk rock. Green Room is a gripping and violent thriller that works on many levels. My only one small hang up with the movie was something that happens in the third act with one of the skinhead characters. It wasn’t a big deal and it didn’t make the movie look any less realistic although I feel from a story perspective it could have been set up better earlier in the movie. Other than that though Green Room is easily the best movie I’ve seen so far this year.
Dave’s Rating- ★★★★½(4½) out of ★★★★★(5)
