A Vigilante follows a woman named Sadie, played by Olivia Wilde, who - after escaping her abusive husband, played by Morgan Spector - goes around helping others escape from their own cases of domestic abuse. This ranges from other women also escaping their abusive husbands and boyfriends, as well as children escaping from their abusive parents. Despite the title, as well as a fair amount of intense scenes, this isn’t an off-the-wall action movie in the vein of Death Wish. This film is much more character driven - a bit slower paced and more reflective.
There aren't that many dramatic beats in this movie. This doesn’t rack up countless scenes of Sadie going around and intimidating or beating up abusers. There are a handful of those moments, but the movie dedicates a decent amount of time to each scene. Something will happen, and the movie will then take some time to reflect on what happens.
It may make the movie feel slow at times. Many scenes are comprised of long takes that follow characters around, as well as lingering shots of a character after a big moment. But there’s a good reason behind going this direction, and that’s to make sure it shows the effects of each moment has on its characters, and shows just how they react to what just occurred. The facial expressions and of certain characters as they soak in an event that just occurred are a driving force behind this movie’s humanity.
And it isn’t just emotional satisfaction. This movie captures just how traumatizing abuse can be, and does a great job capturing the effects it can have on its victims. Just because an abuser is out of one’s life, doesn’t mean everything can so easily go back to normal. Seeing these characters just take a moment trying to have some emotional satisfaction while still feeling vulnerable and still not entirely sure what to do - many times conveyed without saying a word at all - feels very real.
This goes very much for Sadie as well. She isn't just some savior who goes around servicing other characters. She still carries a lot of emotional trauma herself. Olivia Wilde gives a fantastic performance here, nicely shifting between two starkly different emotional states. There are moments in which she totally commands the room. There are hints of that “cool action hero” vibe that a movie with this title would have, as she forces an abusive husband out of his own house. And then there are moments where it’s obvious how this reminds her of her own past, and she needs to take a moment to hold it in together, and not show those who she’s helping that she’s feeling just as vulnerable as they are.
And her journey is ultimately at the center of this movie is about, and easily finds the movie at its most gripping. The third act focuses strictly on Sadie and her husband, and is anchored strictly by the performances of both Wilde and Morgan Spector, both of whom do a fine job. There’s an overall intensity each time they speak, though neither screams, yells or tries to speak over one another.
Dialogue isn’t used to constantly fill up the remaining runtime, which gives off this lingering sense of dread, in both the brief pauses in between dialogue, and the unease that can be felt in the times characters do speak. While the film would have benefited had Sadie’s husband been more of a domineering presence from earlier on in the movie rather than in just one extended sequence later on, these scenes of the two confronting one another are some of the stronger moments in the film.
A Vigilante is a quiet character study that also manages to be timely thanks to its tackling of issues that are still prominent today. While it’s a movie that doesn’t have a lot of big moments, it treats each time something big happens with care, and shows what kind of effects of this subject matter can have on those involved. Led by a strong performance by Olivia Wilde, while it may be grim, it’s still an engaging, gripping watch.
Recommendation: Watch It
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