SAVAGE is the story of a Dublin crime reporter, struggling to maintain his humanity and his sanity after he is the victim of a brutal attack. This is a review of it.

Release date: 17 September 2010

Written and Directed by: Brendan Muldowney

Starring: Starring Darren Healy & Nora Jane Noone

Cert: 18

Travis Bickle, Travis Bickle, Travis Bickle. You’re going to struggle to find a review of SAVAGE that doesn’t reference TAXI DRIVER, so let’s get it out of the way now. Travis Bickle.

SAVAGE sees a mild mannered type of guy driven into a violent state of mind by a city, which is seemingly only occupied by thugs, drunkards and hoodies.

Paul Graynor lives in a nice apartment in the not so nice end of town. The paradoxical nature of his digs reflects the rest of his life. He is caring but cold. He dresses neater than his colleagues but his hair is rock ‘n’ roll. He is brash in his professional life but turns all shy once he clocks off. He’s a walking conundrum. To top it all off he’s a paparazzi crime reporter type but it would appear he also has a soul.

One night after a not very hot date with a nurse, Paul is the victim of a particularly nasty mugging. Normally he would report on this kind of thing, but instead he justifiably develops some serious psychological problems.

Darren Healy (best known for his work in The Clinic and Love Is The Drug) occupies the role of Paul. He is asked to play a wide range of emotions and psychological states throughout the film and can play all of them reasonably well, but struggles when moving between gears. He is also present in pretty much every scene and the weight of carrying a movie seems a little too much for him.

The only other character of any note is Michelle, played by Nora Jane Noone (once of the Magdaline and Coronation Street parishes). Michelle is the afore mentioned nurse, and develops into the love interest and potential salvation for our hero. Noone gives a very likeable performance, but is woefully underused.

SAVAGE deals with some very grown up issues. Paradigms of modern masculinity are questioned, isolation is tackled, fear pondered, the relationship between adults and youths is quizzed and the general air of drink-fueled menace that hangs over Dublin city is highlighted.

The film deserves credit for raising these issues but the delivery method takes away from any kudos. Really great films twist and turn. This one shanks and wrenches. Certain important plot points are overly gruesome, coming across like they were written by a bunch of transition year students down the back of a free class. The overt nature of these scenes detaches the picture from reality and undermines the more thought provoking scenes.

Ultimately, this contradiction turns the film into as much a conundrum as Paul’s character. Writer, Brendan Muldowney really needed to make his mind up as to whether he wanted to make a grown up film about the ills of society or a juvenile blood fest. It is possible to make a film that is both, but it takes Scorsese level of talent to pull it off.