The Aggression Scale [Blu-ray]

it's got a few snags, like the guy swings his shotgun around and they add a "whoosh" effect; dumb. Shoots a woman in the head, kills her instantly and she screams. After the bad guys killed family members, a family member holds the bad guy at gunpoint, and of course, the bad guy takes the gun away right after. Why would you hold a guy at gunpoint who has killed your mother, or wife, and there are 3 more of them you have to deal with? The dad actually banters with the guy. Doy. But, quick exits wouldn't provide grist for the mill, and I gotta admit, this film grinds it out good. Another extraneous scene, superfluous I should say, is the kid operates on himself. A flesh wound, the kid knew it, does a hell of a lot more damage burning himself while supposedly "cauterizing" the relatively insignificant wound with a cigarette lighter. Finally, the traps the kid sets don't all quite add up as to time and physics, perhaps...but it's all close enough to plausible to have fun with this one...you pschos.

A home invasion movie with a original story, instead of a group of bad men going into the home of a retired solider, ex assassin, helpless woman or the typical babysitter. They enter the home of Owen, a young boy with the survival skills of John Rambo, John McCain, and John Wick together. It's Die Hard meets Home Alone, this movie was a blast to watch, Owen was a very enjoyable antihero. Even though he maybe a little emotionally disturbed. You can't help root for the kid, the whole time you're watching him on screen. A awesome thriller with a unique edge to it.

I knew a couple kids like that. They weren't killers or that mean, but they made weapons out of everything.A bit of tape, some nails, a little bit of chemicals, some wire, some rope, a knife, and given a few hours they could make some really horrifying weapons that would kill and maim. If they were playing for keeps, i think one would have been better chasing Viet Cong. They did it for fun. This movie was interesting and the kidwas fantastic. His little grin was really special. The acting, action, and other things were good enough andthe plot was okay. There were a few silly mistakes that one could blame on the director who didn't deserve acting this good (a moved shotgun going whoosh, the sequence of shot and scream screwed up,etc.). But, this movie was so good those things can be overlooked. I recommend this movie.

If Tarantino did an R-rated spoof of Home Alone, it would most likely bear a passing resemblance to Steven C. Miller`s The Aggression Scale. The home-invasion thriller isn't owned by Chris Columbus' 1990 family comedy, but when you make a blond pre-teen kid the defender of the home, the comparison is inevitable. While a darker Home Alone with R-rated violence may seem like a promising prospect, The Aggression Scale seems stuck at "insane hard as nails kid dishes out bloody vengeance." Although Miller opens his movie with a bravura opening sequence and manages to hold on to some semblance of tension, the thrills die down by giving Superboy all the power.An unstoppable anti-hero taking down unambiguously bad guys in an R-rated setting is almost always done to indulge bloodlust. We feel no remorse for those who have slaughtered the innocent, and we certainly don't feel it when the protagonist's actions are done in self-defense. Miller does an excellent job of setting up hitman Lloyd as a sadist who enjoys killing anytime, anyplace, anywhere, and who clearly deserves whatever violence will be visited upon him. The intro sucks in the audience by opening with the definition of the "Aggression Scale" (a test to measure one's proclivity towards violence), the low hum of the soundtrack, Lloyd's toothy and psychotic smile, Ray Wise bringing the patented Ray Wise-menace, and then cutting to loud, angry, energetic opening titles. We then move to meeting the family, and our curiosity is piqued by the silent, clearly disturbed Owen. The elements are in place for an exciting collision course.But the collision turns out to be more of a fender-bender. The movie takes a little too long setting up the family dynamic, in particular Lauren's character. Miller wants to keep Owen mysterious, and since Lauren will be his emotional anchor, we need to spend time with her and her emotional baggage. However, her problems seem far too normal in a movie with a hit squad versus My Little Punisher. The impact is further diminished when we see the attackers bust in, but then cut to Owen wearing all-black clothes, and double-lacing up his combat boots. We know where the power lies, and it's not with the contract killers. With so few characters and a clear indication of who's going to be taking the hurt, there's not much drama. The audience simply waits to see how Owen will take out the people trying to kill him and his family.It's never dull, but the characters are all one dimensional, and when it's over, there is an overwhelming feeling of so what?

Set in upstate New York, mostly, present day. A bad guy gets ripped off of a few hundred thousand and sends 4 killers out to find the money (they have a list of suspects). The killers need to recover the money and kill all suspects.A family moves in to a new home out in the countryside. The teenage daughter is typical anti-authority teen, skinny legs and not very pretty. Her younger brother (about 12 years old) has just come back from the psych hospital and appears to be autistic. Notice, "appears" . . .The film shows what happens when 4 family members meet up with 4 mobsters. For those easily offended, there's violence but no real nudity. Some foul language, too. It's a good film, the bullets striking wood don't create sparks that most special effects people think happens. Acting is fine, nice cinematography except for a few shots with the ancient "shaky camera" technique.And, of course, as in EVERY SINGLE FILM since 2000, there is the apparently obligatory vomit scene.

John L Probert's list of best horror movies of 2012 had given this movie almost the pole position. As a result, I had made up my mind to "watch it". And today I watched it. My, my...... What a gory-twisted-violent fun the viewing experience was! My humble advice to any reader of this review: watch it. The DVD could have benefited from subtitles and a few extra-s, but the movie IS so good that you wouldn't mind their absence. Recommended.

wrong facts on the cover arerunning time is 82 mins. not 100 mins. and the ratio is 1.85:1 and not 2.40:1

Wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. Top film.

Tense.fast paced and intriguing .

Das ist dann doch mal etwas anderes, was zeigt, dass doch noch nicht alle guten Ideen im Gangsterfilm aufgebraucht sind. Die Story ist schnell erzählt. Ein Grossgangster auf Urlaub will durch 4 Killer alle auslöschen, die ihn um sein Geld betrogen haben. Das geht auch bei den ersten gut, dann landen sie jedoch bei einer 4 köpfigen Familie, wo der ca 14 jährige Junge psychische Probleme hat, die sich in Gewaltausbrüchen äussern bei denen zahlreiche Mitschüler schwer verletzt wurden. Die Gangster kriegen es auf einmal mit einem Gegner zu tun, mit dem sie nicht gerechnet haben! Fataler Fehler!85 Minuten spannende Unterhaltung mit einigen blutigen Gewaltspitzen sind garantiert.