I can see all of
the influences that inspired Redeemer,
but even the imitation of well-made action movies isn’t enough to create
something worthwhile and original. Fans of brutal and bloody action
choreography may enjoy moments of the spectacle, but the amount of time spent
on the filmmaking process isn’t equally distributed beyond these sequences of
violence. Nearly every other aspect of storytelling is sacrificed in favor of
creativity in the deaths and the showcasing of lead actor Marko Zaror’s martial
arts abilities.
Zoror is easily
able to display his fighting skills in the role of ex-hitman turned vigilante,
Pardo, especially since he doesn’t do much talking. After accidentally killing
an innocent person during one of his jobs, Pardo begins using his skill as an
assassin for good. In an effort to make up for his past mistakes, Pardo kills
bad guys that are terrorizing innocent citizens, earning him a nickname as the
‘Redeemer.’ We see this in an opening sequence where our vigilante protagonist
is somehow able to obtain all of the information he needs by eavesdropping on a
desperate man’s prayer before offering up his style of bone-crushing justice.
In one of the
film’s only twists of originality, there are two separate villains that Pardo
must face. The first is the latest criminal that Redeemer takes it upon himself
to destroy. This villain is a wisecracking wealthy American named Bradock (Noah
Segan), who has intentions of becoming Chile
In a film filled
with cheesy nicknames, the deadly bad guy hunting down Redeemer is a killer
known as Scorpion (Jose Luis Mosca). Scorpion is seeking endless revenge for
the mistaken death that turned Pardo into the Redeemer, even hunting down the
innocent people that he has helped to leave a path of destruction in the wake
of all the good deeds. Neither one of these characters ever feel completely fleshed
out, but that doesn’t seem to matter to filmmaker Ernesto Díaz Espinoza nearly
as much as the choreography for their final fight. This ends up being the
biggest problem for the film; while there is some inventiveness in the gruesome
fight choreography, the characters and story are never developed enough to
allow any resonance in the violence.
The Blu-ray
release includes a making-of featurette, along with deleted scenes and a
trailer. As stylish as the film itself attempts to be, the filmmaking is not
polished enough to be improved by the high definition presentation. This is
clearly low budget filmmaking, although whatever budget there was seems to have
been spent on some of the more gruesome images.
Entertainment Value:
8/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 4/10
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