Bruiser

A man who has let everyone walk all over him wakes up one morning to find his face replaced by a white expressionless mask. Freed of his former identity, this man does what we would all do in his situation - seek vigilante justice against those who have wronged him!

Henry Creedlow aka Man in Mask (Jason Flemyng)
Milo aka the Boss (Peter Stormare)
Rosemary Newley aka the true friend (Leslie Hope)
Janine Creedlow aka the girlfriend (Nina Garbiras)
James Larson aka the best friend (Andrew Tarbet)

Year: 2000
Censorship Rating: MA (for male and female nudity, violence and limited gore)

"Bruiser" is the type of film that will occasionally raise its head here in Spandex Cinema. Although not a superhero-film per se, it contains enough of the elements of the superhero genre to fit into it. Briefly, our protagonist 1) is a normal individual, who 2) appears powerless in the face of others, who 3) wakes up one day to find he has changed into something more than normal and 4) uses his new-found power to seek retribution from those who have wronged him. Sure, it may not be the nice, clean form of retribution that benefits all of society, but not everyone gets to be Superman, if you know what I'm getting at.

I won't do the (possibly overly) detailed review that I have written for some of the other films in Spandex Cinema because it's pretty unlikely a large number of people would have seen Bruiser. I don't mind detailing what happens in action films given that most of their plots are visible from a mile away, but "Bruiser" has a few moments that work well and I'd rather not ruin them for those who might be interested. Instead, I'll just go briefly through what happens before rendering judgement. For those who care, "Bruiser" was directed by George A. Romero, most famous for his work in "Night of the Living Dead".

Henry Creedlow is not a happy man. He is belittled at work, ignored by his girlfriend and lives in a half-finished house in the middle of nowhere that he can barely afford. Misfortune seems to hang around Henry's neck like a millstone as nothing he does seems to work out quite right. And then there are the disturbing violent fantasies he has at odd moments... it's safe to say that this guy probably has some anger management issues. The only light in his life is his boss' wife Rosemary who he sees as his only true friend. (By the way, Henry works at a lifestyle magazine called Bruiser, hence the name of the movie.)

Henry is organising a masquerade party for his boss' birthday, for which Rosemary gives him a blank white mask to paint his personality onto. Before he does so, however, he sees his girlfriend in a rather public yet intimitate moment with the boss which leads to an argument. The girlfriend storms off, Henry goes to bed... and wakes up to find the white mask has become his face.

With this loss of ... well, face, Henry starts to let his anger loose on those who he catches wronging him. These acts of revenge can best described as brutal without being too gory and there aren't a lot of them, so don't worry if you are squeamish. I won't let on what happens as he starts to let go of his self-control, but there are some interesting moments, or at least moments that are well executed. The mask itself is fantastic - it makes Henry look very eerie and Jason Flemyng does a very good job in expressing himself without using his face.

[Aside: this was among my first reviews, but I'm thinking that perhaps I should go the whole hog and write this movie up properly. If there is any demand for it from you, my readers, I may one day go back and completely review the whole film.]

"Bruiser" isn't perfect. It suffers a bit from being a B-grade film - some bits of the script lack impact and the acting, while generally solid, still has some iffy moments. The ending seems a bit tacked on and you can see what is going to happen a mile away. Despite this, "Bruiser" is something a bit different, especially if you watch it as a vigilante movie rather than a psycho-thriller.

As previously stated, Jason Flemyng does a great job in acting without a face and as someone who is taking increasing enjoyment in getting his retribution. I also loved the mask itself, although it could be seen to be a rip on the Shape's mask from the "Halloween" series.

Also, if you've ever wanted to see Peter Stomare's penis, well, this is the film for you.

As far as I know, this is an original film so there is no source to connect to.

Bruiser is better than average (well, at least different) and not a bad way to kill a couple of hours. And the mask is great.

A faceless man can apparently get around and commit murder pretty easily, while the police appear to be morons.

Date of review: 3 May 2004