PIGGY (2012)

Studio:       Inception Media Group
Director:    Kieron Hawkes
Writer:       Kieron Hawkes
Producer:  Danny Potts, Leo Pearlman
Stars:     Martin Compston, Louise Dylan, Roland Manookian, Neil Maskell, Paul Anderson

Review Score:

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Summary:

Following his brother’s murder, a timid young man is taught how to exact brutal revenge by a mysterious vigilante.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Meek and introverted, Joe lives a life of keeping to himself and going out of his way to avoid confrontation. When robbed at knifepoint while walking home alone at night, Joe timidly gives his money to the robber. Joe begins getting out of the house more by spending time with his outgoing brother John and John’s lady friend Claire.

While enjoying drinks with John and John’s friends at the Prince of Wales pub, Joe inadvertently bumps a street thug named Jamie Ritler. John gets into a scuffle with Jamie on Joe’s behalf, but the two of them are pulled apart. Jamie and his crew continue to stare at the men all night. Joe becomes so uncomfortable that he leaves the bar.

Claire calls Joe to the hospital the next day. After leaving the pub, John was attacked by Jamie and four other men later revealed to be Craig, Anthony, Frank, and Chris. John succumbs to his stab wounds and dies.

After the funeral, Joe is visited by a man named Piggy who claims to be an old friend of John’s. Piggy gradually pulls Joe from his shell by teaching him how to exact revenge. He starts by taking Joe to where the mugger who robbed him lives and beating the man while Joe watches.

Wearing rubber pig noses as disguises, Piggy and Joe find Craig, the first man connected to John’s murder. Piggy keeps Craig prisoner in a public bathroom and tortures him for the names of the others involved in the killing.

Joe begins a relationship with Claire. While out with Claire, Joe spots Anthony, one of the other men who assaulted John, and follows him home. Joe and Piggy later kidnap Anthony and Piggy kills the man by repeatedly stomping on his head.

Joe and Piggy learn that the gang’s ringleader, Jamie, is serving time in prison. Meanwhile, they capture Jamie’s accomplice Frank and Piggy slits his throat.

Piggy warns Joe to stay away from Claire because she is clouding his focus. Claire calls Joe when her ex-boyfriend Justin shows up drunk outside her apartment. Joe arrives to intervene, but Justin pushes Joe to the ground.

As Piggy continues getting inside Joe’s head, the two men break into Chris’ house and stab the man following a struggle. Joe continues his relationship with Claire despite Piggy’s warnings.

Inside Piggy’s house, Joe finds newspaper clippings indicating that Piggy was stalking Jamie from the beginning, and never actually knew John. Joe and Jamie have a confrontation that ultimately turns physical, but Piggy lets Joe go.

His vigilante side awakened, Joe delivers a letter to Claire packaged with a pig snout. Joe then tracks down Justin at a pub and uses a broken bottle to slash him. Joe sits calmly at a table and waits to be arrested. Joe is subsequently transported to the same prison where Jamie Ritler is incarcerated as part of Joe’s plan to exact his final act of vengeance.

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Review:

The cover art for “Piggy” makes it look like a cheap slasher featuring a killer in a goofy rubber pig’s nose, since all of the good horror icon face accessories like hockey masks and human skin have already been taken.  It’s too bad the title and the image give an impression of the movie being something derivative and lower brow than it actually is.  Because “Piggy” is not a cheap slasher at all, but a psychological character study that accentuates mood and motivation instead of gory body counts and typical horror movie trappings.

Introverted and shy to be sure, Joe is not so much a coward as he is someone who would simply prefer to avoid confrontation.  His instinct to switch sides of the street when unfamiliar faces in hoodies are in the way is just how he minds his own business and plays it safe.  Joe is not a fear-obsessed loner with overly irrational tendencies.  He is a sympathetic and relatable hero, albeit a timid one.

Despite his best efforts to stay out of trouble, trouble finds him in the form of a street thug named Jamie who puffs his chest at a pub after Joe accidentally gives the man a slight bump.  Joe’s brother John saves the day, but John pays the price later when Jamie and his crew stab Joe’s brother to death on his walk home.

Joe stews in post-funeral guilt and grief for only a short spell however, as a man claiming to be an old mate of John’s arrives unannounced on Joe’s doorstep.  Going only by his titular nickname, Piggy works his way into Joe’s life as the meek man’s mentor in all things pertaining to revenge and vigilantism.  Joe wants justice for his brother’s murder.  And Piggy wants to teach Joe that he is capable of meting out that justice for himself, even if it involves a punch, knife, or fatal curb stomp.

Although not presented as a key mystery to mull over necessarily, Piggy’s serendipitously unexpected appearance and the fact that he interacts solely with Joe except when killing introduces the question of if Piggy is a real person or just a manifestation of Joe’s psyche.  Either way, it makes their scenes together play like an envisioning of Dexter relating directly with his Dark Passenger instead of just mentally struggling against the dark urges in his fractured serial stalker mind.

Unfortunately, the ambiguity surrounding Piggy’s possibly imaginary origin undermines the movie’s message.  Is “Piggy” meant to be an examination of how a passive man can be corrupted through an external influence?  Or is it intended as a portrait of weakened willpower succumbing to a suppressed twisted side that was raging to escape?

The interplay between Joe and Piggy is initially interesting.  Until the open to interpretation meaning behind it all sadly deprives “Piggy” of having a clear perspective regarding what it wants to say about morality.  Executing a character study is difficult to do when it is unclear if the examination is of two separate individuals or of two sides to the same person.  Painting a psychological mindscape to illustrate either scenario is equally challenging for the same reason.

Even with scenes of violent brutality and its theme of dark duality, “Piggy” is played as an emotional tragedy instead of as perverse revenge film entertainment.  A bleak color palette and a camera constantly flowing in graceful motions make the movie aesthetically appealing to look at.  Exceptional production design is in keeping with the sincerity of effort on display and with the intelligent approach driving the script.  But “Piggy” is ultimately undercut by a muddled purpose and an overstayed welcome that makes for an unsatisfying overall impact.

“Piggy” would be a more engaging watch if it were about 15 minutes shorter.  Some individual scenes bear the drag more than others, yet even at just 105 minutes, the tempo takes a hit from a plot having to bear the weight of such a dreary tone.  Piano keys ring with haunting echoes to underscore the sadness, but without amplifying the tension.  Individually, all of the movie’s elements are professionally constructed.  Yet once they are layered to work together, “Piggy” becomes too confused about exactly what mood it means to evoke.

Review Score:  60

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