Retaliation

This one wasn't easy for me to sit through, but in the end, it was well worth the watch.

Very good performance by Orlando Bloom, as well as by Charlie Creed-Miles.

They should have stuck with the title "ROMANS" because a certain passage in that part of the New Testament is really the central theme of the story, at least it was for me.

Most movies are easily forgettable, but not this one. I'm thinking about it long after watching.

This is an incredibly topical film with all that has come to light over the last couple of decades. Orlando Bloom was incredible in this part. He holds your full attention from start to finish and has no trouble portraying the full scope of emotions his character is dealing with. This film deserves to be seen by a much wider audience than it's limited release will grant it.

"Be not carried away to revenge and retaliation (Romans, 12,V 19) by evil which is committed against you, but overcome the evil by the good which you show to your enemy (V20), put to shame by your noble spirit, ceases to act malignantly against you . . . ." Paul

Retaliation, starring a surprisingly competent Orlando Bloom as Malky, is about a demolition worker trying to demolish the memory of abuse by a priest when Malky was 12. The plot is simple, a thriller at the least, encouraging the audience to guess whether he will exorcise his demon or take Christ's advice (see above).

The film focuses almost exclusively on Malky, whose growing torture about the abuse bleeds out into everything he encounters, be it his Mum (Anne Reed), his best friend, Jo (Alex Ferns), or, most lamentably, girlfriend Emma (Janet Montgomery). His rage is palpable, and because he shares its reason with no one, it is quietly volcanic.

At times the metaphors (cross, stigmata, and glasses, just for starters) are heavy; yet Bloom so effectively carries their weight, they serve as effectively as could be expected without distracting. The text from Paul helps audiences to understand the victim's dilemma as well as answer how Malky can appease the vengeance.

Bloom is a revelation-abandoning for the moment his pretty boy roles-by turning in a memorable performance recently as an army captain in The Outpost, and in this role underplaying and overplaying grief and anger without relying on the charms that made him a global star.

For those who were brought up Catholic, stories of priestly abuse haunt even more when they are true. My attempted abuse by a priest when I was an undergraduate stays with me as I reconcile the disparity between piety and pederasty, its prevalence and its persistence. Retaliation will prevail as one of the best takes on religious perfidy.

It was as if he had 'grown up' and become some whole other being. There is not one misstep in this film. Every aspect of victimhood, ptsd, self-harm, sexuality, denial, help, healing, recovery, friendship, love, hate, anger, debt, discovery is revealed in a natural, realistic manner. Orlando's work is incredible. The writing is incredible. And ultimately the true horror turns out not to have been where you thought it was at all, but somewhere even worse, even more cruel and complex.

It has more depth to it than expected. Fair warning: it is not an Equalizer-type film. It's a different category altogether.