Review: Wild Justice (2013)

First I´d like to thank Brain Damage Films for providing me with a screener
An ex-military man Daniel Wilson and his wife Lisa share a life which seems perfect in an environment of family people and cozy surrounding of trees and greenery. When they head to a local pub for a drink, the barmaid is raped by a gang member Frankie Harris. Wilson intervenes, beats up the thug Harris and throws him out of the place much to the pleasure of the other patrons. Later, the thug brings his gang and they beat up Daniel in a park. Daniel and Lisa comfort each other in their home unknowingly watched by the gang members outside. One night, Lisa is kidnapped from the house. Upon returning home, Daniel receives a ransom note and a phone call. He agrees to pay the gang but the trouble does not stop here and escalates to a full-scale war on both sides. Jennifer manages to track herself to the lair of the villains. Realizing that they lack people and weapons, the heroes approach a rival gang of the villains and meet Jack and Ashlee. The five of them: Daniel, Shane, Jennifer, Jack and Ashlee proceed to the villains' lair in the Australian outback and engage in a long and final battle with the gangsters where only one side will emerge victorious. Wild Justice is written by Calvin Wong and Terry 'Watto' Watkins and is directed by Julian Cheah. The acting skills ranges from pretty bad to pretty good. The camerawork and editing is for the most part good (look at my comments on the topic of the fight scenes). The soundtrack is good. The pacing is pretty good. This being a actionflick, the main question gotta be "how are those sequences?" Well the martial arts/fight scenes are uneven both due to the choreography and how they are shot and edited. I like to be able to see the moves, the techniques but in Wild Justice the action is partly obscured due to the way that scenes are staged. There´s no gore, there computer rendered squibs as people get shot, I do know why some film makers choose to go that route but honestly practical bloody squibs is so MUCH BETTER than cgi.
There´s brief female topless nudity.
Wild Justice will be released on VOD in January 2014 by Brain Damage Films.
This review is based upon a passwordprotected online screener provided by Brain Damage Films.
Rating: 2½ out of 7. Wild Justice is a bit uneven but it´s not too shabby, had it had practical gore, better shot fight scenes, showcasing the characters martial arts skills, I would surely have given it a better rating.

/JL