Defending Woody Harrelson

Defendor – Peter Stebbings

If you’re an avid reader, which i doubt you are, you may know that i have a massive love for Woody Harrelson, especially detailed in the Zombieland review where i basically gave 400 words to the one and only man who stole that film. So now reviewing a new film by the actor, i again have to point out how truly amazing this guy really is. He can take a small indie flick and turn into something that would crown the top of someone’s career; this film is just a small part of the whole overall picture. Defendor is a cross between a dark comedy with real drama set pieces where the audience is undecided whether or not to laugh or to cry and that’s what i really like about this film, it has a different pace to anything I’ve seen this year, sure it has it’s boring moments and sure the script may not be great, but when you’ve got Harrelson steering the film into a good direction and also have the incredibly cute and talented Kat Dennings as the female lead, you know you’ve got a good watch on your hands.

The story is about a somewhat delusional man with bad upbringings where he turns to crime fighting to better his life after his mother leaving him at an early age and his father dying. He wants to kill “Captain Industry”, his arch nemesis who continues to pollute his city with crime such as prostitution, violence and drug smuggling. Along the way he gets help from Kat, a local prostitute, and a family who helps him after he gets several beaten up by a police officer who is corrupt. Whilst this story is played, it cuts to a therapy session between Defendor and a physicist who wants to find out if he is able to live back into society or if this whole thing was brought upon by his mental instability. It has some moments of humour, especially with Defendor and moments of sadness, where you begin to wonder if the character really is losing their mind or not, but in the end, things do get resolved and you begin to understand the character and his motives, even if they are somewhat confused.

Overall, a decent film for a boring weekend, which can be watched with family or friends, i wouldn’t say it’s the greatest film to come out this year or even this month, but it certainly deserves a quick viewing to fully grasp Harrelson’s range as an actor and to see Kat Dennings in another film again before she graces our screen with a quality performance (let’s hope!) in the upcoming Thor film.

6/10

Simon Childs