★★★
After a life of violence, a drug dealer sought peace at a retirement home but his nurse sought revenge.
Classification: 15
Although charting predictable paths in its scripting and climaxes, director Paco Plaza still delivers an engaging, stimulating thriller as Luis Tosar's deeply emotional performance as nurse Mario delivers a fascinating moral conflict. Eye for an Eye may bite off more than it can chew as while the most intense pieces of the film revolve around Mario slowly poisoning his patient, elderly drug lord Antonio Padín, there are parallel storylines following Padín's sons trying to recover from the fallout of a botched drug deal. Plaza's film examines revenge and the value of life as Mario is a man whose profession deals with the end of life as a caretaker to the elderly while his homelife prepares for the beginning of a new life, as his wife Julia is several months pregnant. Mario's storyline has obvious connections to Toño and Kike Padín's struggles as their desperation to have their father help them save their skin forces them to threaten Mario and ratchet up the tension, but at times while the drug crime element is fascinating it can feel tacked on.
Eye for an Eye really shines because of its performances as Tosar captures this complicated philosophy to his character's actions. Pazar's film does not endorse Mario's viewpoint but provides a clear perspective to his reasonings and the film works in ways as a character study of how revenge spirals beyond our control. Mario is a former drug addict who lost his brother to an overdose, drugs that were supplied by Antonio Padín's criminal empire. The compassion and integrity established in Mario's personality corrupt with every action he takes against Padín as Tosar captures an intense conflict within, his character reflecting modern intrigue in anti-heroes, of good men gone bad. Every expression showing layers of fear, guilt, anger and regret and makes the film's most compelling sequences all the more powerful. Similar to Xan Cejudo whose performance as Padín has him primarily play the character while infirm, unable to properly move or speak as he becomes entirely dependant on Mario's nursing. The intense scenes of the two wear both actors speak volumes through expression alone and it's fascinating how Pazar's direction has the audience question their sympathies for each character. Neither Mario or Padín are innocent but the moral question of what is being done builds incredible tension as the lies begin to pile up which external pressures from Padín's family dealings and Mario's personal life exacerbate greatly.
Ismael Martínez and Enric Auquer give great performances as Padín's children and while their storylines distract from the main storyline as times they both deliver intense, visually shocking sequences. Pazar flexes his action directing chops as Eye for an Eye's most emotional moments take place in the quiet nuanced moments, there is plenty of visceral material for the criminal element to sink its teeth into. The drug deal of the first act being intense, clever and shocking but along with car chases, intimidation and brutal imagery of prison violence. Pazar doesn't hold back in showing the audience the reality of the world that Mario is in danger from and the gritty, revenge-driven thriller never lets the audience get bored. There are moments that make your jaw drop beyond the violence or ethical issues on the screen (I legitimately think Pazal filmed an actual live birth because I've seen visual trickery but I've never seen childbirth on a film like this before). Pablo Rosso's cinematography reflecting this as well with shots shaking during tense moments and reveals, capturing the panic within Mario's story, this visual stability of his life breaking down like he's relapsing back into dangerous habits.
It's a standard thriller bolstered by its performances, direction and moral questions of right and wrong, Eye for an Eye does plenty to keep audiences invested in the tragedy of Mario's downfall. Intense and harrowing in its best moments, the film can get bogged down by filler and predictability but Plaza's cinematic vision for Mario never falls into the traps of generic b-movie thrillers. Melodramatic with some story beats but never in tone, the commitment to telling the story of a man of empathy and compassion betrays every ideal he stood for has an aching realism to it.
Director: #PacoPlaza
Release Date: January 15th 2020
Available to stream on Netflix
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images from the Internet Movie Database, Synopsis from Netflix
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