Bad Ass

"Now we got this freaking geriatric going around kicking everybody's fucking asses." - the Mayor

release year: 2012
genre: action
viewing setting: home Bluray, 5/5/17 and 9/17/13 and 12/31/12

synopsis: An old veteran refuses to take crap from anyone, and uses that attitude (plus generous doses of violence) to solve his friend's murder.

impressions: Highly entertaining. Any day of the week, I'd watch this over some of the pretentious, boring crap that gets nominated for Best Picture. This character is loosely based on an actual incident although it's taken several fictional steps further. In this case, the fiction was much better and more entertaining that the reality! This guy sees that the police aren't going to find his friend's killers, so he basically sets out on a path of revenge, going from place to place and beating up anyone who messes with him, until he finds who he's looking for. In-between, he also finds time to help other people, like his abused neighbor and some old lady who can't carry her groceries. Cool or funny elements include:

after beating up a bunch of tough guys in a bar, takes a shot of tequila
after beating up some criminal, takes some of his stuff as he leaves
repeatedly trims off tiny pieces of his gigantic beard and claims he cleaned it up
hurls a big dude through a plate-glass window
talks his way out of multiple situations simply because he's the Bad Ass
puts some punk's hand in a garbage disposal to make him talk
catches a punch in one hand and crushes the guy's fingers
insults guys torturing him, and refuses to talk
takes more torture so that he'll have more time to cut his ropes
chase involving passenger buses

total number of people beat up by Bad Ass: 20 (3 of whom got beaten up a second time)

acting: Danny Trejo played dozens of minor roles until he finally achieved fame in recent years. It is good. Charles Dutton has a strong role as a gang leader. Harrison Page is Vega's friend who gets killed. Ron Perlman is a tough, corrupt mayor.

final word: Good bone-crunching fun with an actual plot.

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