By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Starring Elena Kampouris, Sean Astin and Jeremy Piven
Directed by Sean McNamara
Written by Ian Neligh
Paramount/Republic Pictures
At a couple of points in VINDICTA, we’re given glimpses of a movie-theater marquee that, if you fill in the missing letters, reads “SLAPSTICK OF ANOTHER KIND WITH JERRY LEWIS.” Why Steven Paul, who wrote, produced and directed SLAPSTICK and produced and came up with the story for the new film, would want to namecheck that notorious debacle is anybody’s guess. It’s also asking a lot to expect us to believe that any theater anywhere would actually show it, but then Seattle has bigger problems in VINDICTA. Violent protests against local government and authority are escalating, and amidst all the looting and arson, a mysterious madman has begun a gruesome killing spree.
Seattle also has the problem of being played by Vancouver and, in a number of scenes, a very obvious backlot. And VINDICTA has the problem of being the 704th knockoff of SE7EN, with a pinch of SAW here, a dash of HALLOWEEN there, a couple of scoops of THE PURGE and a villain who, with his Michelangelo’s David mask, is visually reminiscent of the Cherub from 2001’s VALENTINE.
Why does he wear the visage of the David? Well, it ties in with his m.o. of leaving Latin words scrawled in blood at the sites of his crimes. And since we learn early on that VINDICTA’s hero, trainee paramedic Lucy “Call me Lou” O’Connor (Elena Kampouris), once did her thesis on Latin at college, it quickly becomes clear that she’s an unwitting but central part of the murderer’s twisted and complicated game. Not long after that, it becomes clear that VINDICTA is one of those thrillers that depends on the characters doing exactly what the bad guy predicts and expects they will do, in order to further both his and the movie’s plot.
And as in many films of this type, it’s not enough that Lou becomes embroiled in a horrific slaughter spree; she’s also got a dead mother in her past, and a chief (Sean Astin) back at the stationhouse who failed her at the academy. There are a lot of other things in VINDICTA that will seem familiar even to audience members with just a passing familiarity with this genre: There is a cat scare in the opening setpiece. There is a scene in which the killer peeps at Lou while she’s showering. There is a lair full of candles, mannequins and photos of the characters posted on the walls. The people who venture into this lair, by the way, keep talking about how the place is locked and barricaded and there’s no way out, but others keep finding their way in.
A good deal of VINDICTA is just as contrived, particularly as it gets into its final act, and the movie in general wobbles uncertainly between its multiple-murder scenario and being a heroine-trying-to-prove-herself drama. Not to mention that the whole populace-in-revolt element remains gratuitous and unconnected in any meaningful way to the main story throughout. The villain’s motivation becomes obvious by the half-hour point, yet the more the movie tries to explain its plot, the more ridiculous it becomes, climaxing with a protracted chase-and-fight of the type we’ve seen dozens (hundreds?) of times before.
Director Sean McNamara, segueing to horror territory following the likes of SOUL SURFER and more direct-to-video BABY GENIUSES sequels than I ever knew existed, manages a stylish flourish here and there, but might have better served the material by leaning in harder on its sillier elements and turning it into a campfest. For her part, Kampouris–an up-and-coming actress who deserves better starring vehicles than this and the most recent CHILDREN OF THE CORN–plays with as much conviction as possible under the circumstances, but is hard-pressed to make very much of her generically conceived role. And there’s no way she, or any actor, should be expected to sell what is easily one of the dumbest closing lines in recent movie history.
