Straightheads (2007)

Businesswoman/socialite Gillian Anderson, flirting with her much younger surveillance tech installer Danny Dyer, takes him to a swank party, which they leave for a quick shag. On their way home they nearly get into an altercation with another vehicle, with Dyer yelling some obscenities and such. Not such a smart idea, dude. The vehicle returns and before long he’s beaten and she’s raped. The attack leaves Dyer feeling totally emasculated, whilst Anderson tries to just shut it all out and return to work. But a chance meeting with someone she recognises as one of the attackers (Ralph Brown, the dim ‘85’ from the underrated “Alien 3”), gives Anderson an idea for revenge, and Dyer agrees to go along with the plans. But what will these two lose in the process? Have they already become shells of their former selves?

The rape-revenge/vigilante thriller is one of my least favourite genres, but this somewhat controversial film from debut writer-director Dan Reed has some genuine merit for those who can take it. Unfortunately it also falls apart in the same way that most of these films do, failing to make a plausible transition from normal citizen to vigilante/aggressor. It’s done way too swiftly to convince here, unfortunately. Anderson (usually a cold fish) is quite good and for the first time in her career, genuinely sexy and a strong screen presence.

The film offers up very interesting, complex characterisations by Dyer and Brown, that whilst not appealing (nor is the film), were certainly commendable. The relationship between Dyer and Anderson is pretty implausible in its set-up, but gets really fascinating after a while, and Dyer’s emotionally scarred, slightly seedy character is really interesting (His character’s behaviour is easily the most credible in the film). Even the rapists in the film are given more depth than is usual, or at least a couple of them. The film also deserves credit for showing vigilantism as ugly, senseless, and psychologically damaging.

OVERALL SUMMARY
If the character transitions had’ve been more plausible and a few other minor annoyances been fixed, I’d have been able to recommend this film. As is, it’s a near-miss, but far from worthless.

Gillian Anderson and Danny Dyer star in this Brit flick about a posh bird, Alice (Anderson) and her bit of rough lover Adam (Dyer) who are attacked in the middle of the woods after a swanky party. Adam is viciously beaten and left for dead and Alice is brutally raped. A few weeks later, Alice inadvertently discovers where one of her attackers lives, and puts in motion a horrifying plan for revenge.

Straightheads has been described as violent, savage, brutal and a whole host of other things (which it is), but it’s not the most shocking film I have ever seen. The rape scenes are not salacious or excessively graphic, as you get the feeling director Dan Reed was very concerned with Gillian Anderson’s well-being. As for the revenge scenes, they too are not as brutal as I was expecting. This is because Reed holds back on excessively violent imagery, instead opting to make you queasy at the thought of what is happening without needing to see it.

Anderson is very good, as is Ralph Brown who plays one of her attackers, but sadly, Dyer is a bit unintentionally comical here. This is perhaps due to the radical shift his character goes through towards the end. He is led by Anderson throughout and is very against taking revenge, but the power goes to his head and suddenly Alice wants no part in it, just as Adam comes round to the idea.

OVERALL SUMMARY
Straightheads is essentially Straw Dogs version 2.0 but it is still a tense 80 minutes.