Punishment (2008)

Critic Reviews

Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
A dense and tense thriller, Punishment is a well conceived genre film with a gritty and bloody core, with a strong story that reveals new elements as it goes. Danny Matier's debut is likely to be compared to Greg McLean's Wolf Creek.

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Robert F

Punishment started out so well, but ultimately turned into an execrable mess. The opening sequence was really strong, providing a quality of thrill and suspense that you'd expect from a big-budget Hollywood film (and had it continued in that vein, I'd be giving it five stars… More
Punishment started out so well, but ultimately turned into an execrable mess. The opening sequence was really strong, providing a quality of thrill and suspense that you'd expect from a big-budget Hollywood film (and had it continued in that vein, I'd be giving it five stars right now). When the film then had to rely on dialogue rather than action, things started getting shaky. It was hard to discern what was bad acting and what was bad writing, but for the most part, I think the actors were doing the best with what they had. By the end, everything fell apart. There were several serious issues with the film's overall construct, but I was mainly agitated by the fact that the writer-director took the position that revenge meant savage torture - it turned into an absolute blood bath. And I've never been more painfully aware of what an audience was feeling - in the presence of the director, about a dozen people walked out of the theatre. A huge disappointment.