Bad Ass (2012)

Directed by: Craig Moss | 86 minutes | action, drama | Actors: Danny Trejo, Charles S. Dutton, Ron Perlman, Joyful Drake, Patrick Fabian, John Duffy, Winter Ave Zoli, Danny Woodburn, Donzaleigh Abernathy, David A. Arnold, Erik Betts, Jennifer Blanc, Kevin Patrick Burke, Robert Sean Burke , Ezra Buzzington, Isabella Cascarano, Tonita Castro

After serving in Vietnam, Frank Vega falls into a marginal existence once back in the United States. Abandoned by society and rejected by a slew of potential employers, Frank starts a hot dog stand to make a living. After living a modest life at the bottom of society for forty years, Frank suddenly becomes a hero when he comes to the aid of an old man on the bus and is forced to beat up two rowdy skinheads. His performance is filmed and becomes a hit on YouTube, earning Frank national fame and the nickname Badass. Suddenly he is one of the popular guests on talk shows and he is regularly allowed to accompany police officers on their daily patrols. So Frank Vega’s life finally seems to be heading in the right direction, until his best friend Klondike is murdered by cronies of the corrupt mayor Williams (played by Ron ‘Clay Morrow’ Perlman). Frustrated by the vigor of the police, Frank decides to search for the perpetrators himself and make them pay for their dastardly misdeed.

A look at Hollywood history tells us that the film world has always had richly classical vigilantes, above-average strong and martial arts masters avengers who, operating in solitude, battle injustice and all kinds of corrupt or criminal rapaille. In particular, actors like Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson and Steven Seagal owe much of their fame to such roles. Although ‘Bad Ass’ lacks the nuance and ingenuity of classics in the avenger genre like ‘Death Wish’, ‘Dirty Harry’ or ‘Pale Rider’ and is less graphic and raw than, say, ‘Walking Tall’ or ‘The Punisher’, the thematic approach (on the understanding that Vega does not use pistols and knives, but almost only uses his fists) is similar: a man is fed up with the injustice and depravity he sees around him and decides to intervene with his own hands to rectify what was innocent people in its immediate vicinity.

Although the story that underlies ‘Bad Ass’ is one of the dime a dozen and the film does not excel with an overly inventive script, the print is still quite entertaining. That’s primarily because of Danny Trejo. The role of a Vietnam veteran scarred by life’s trials and tribulations fits the rugged Latino like a glove. Moreover, it is only given to a single actor to be credible as an old fighter who, largely without the use of weapons, skillfully and harshly wipes the floor with his often much younger opponents. The action scenes in ‘Bad Ass’ look good on the whole, while the film is also not completely devoid of the necessary light-comedy intermezzos.

‘Bad Ass’ is clearly a film of the category of thick wood, people saw planks, but that does not alter the fact that it is a print that looks good and offers at least an hour and a half of good entertainment. And let’s be honest: secretly we would all be happy with heroic, honest huggable machos like Frank Vega who, in a very subtle and wonderfully politically incorrect way, deal with the scum that in reality also populate many streets.