Directed by John Balazs
Written by Michael J. Kospiah
Starring Matt Theo, Hayley Beveridge, Richard Norton
Runtime 2 hours, 23 minutes
Available on blu-ray, DVD, and digitally Feb. 23

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

The Australian import, Rage, opens ominously, with what looks like a man at a grave, setting what is probably a body on fire. This overlong (143 minutes!), underwhelming thriller eventually circles back to that scene, but not until it reveals all that came before it.

Director John Balazs, working from a script by Michael J. Kospiah, focuses on a couple, Noah (Matt Theo) and Madeline (Hayley Beveridge). Their relationship is rocky. He squeezes the toothpaste from the top, which annoys her (she’s a dentist’s receptionist) and he often “works late.” She suspects he is having an affair—and he is, with his colleague Sophia (Natasha Maymon).

One night, when Madeline is expecting Noah home for dinner, he bails, and she asks her sister Rebecca (Nic Stevens) over for wine. Their evening is interrupted by unwanted intruders. There is a murder, a rape, but no robbery, and Noah, who arrives home during the attack, ends up being shot in the shoulder, chest, and head. (He recovers remarkably, but that’s getting ahead of things).

Rage soon shifts into a police procedural as Detective John Bennett (Richard Norton) investigates the crimes. He wants to talk with Madeline who may have seen her attacker, but she is catatonic and not talking. Her PTSD includes seeing images of her attacker at times, but her therapy, with Elizabeth Bennett (Tottie Goldsmith)—who is John’s husband—goes nowhere.

This film has no urgency getting to its points, about guilt and love, and other emotions, either. Balazs features several lengthy wordless sequences that incrementally move the plot forward. The slow-burn approach is meant to build interest and tension and develop the characters, but it has the opposite effect. So much of Balazs’ style is more suited to soap opera, with closeups and an intrusive musical score during heightened dramatic moments. The filmmaker apparently thinks he is Hitchcock—one of the plot twists is a story out of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. If only.

One of the film’s main problems is that its cast of actors are as wooden as a boardwalk. Matt Theo may be good looking, but his line readings are thoroughly unconvincing and stilted. Moreover, Noah seems incredibly well adjusted after the trauma he experienced, which seems to serve the plot, not reality. In contrast, Hayley Beveridge is best when she is silent and staring off into space. A fight between the couple is one of many risible moments, but much of the film’s dialogue is wretched. Even Richard Norton, a veteran actor from B-movies seems to be sleepwalking through his role as a jaded cop. The only bright spot in the cast is a scene-stealing supporting turn by Jasper Bagg as a sleazy private investigator (and former associate of Bennett’s) who is hired by two characters to sniff out some truths.

Rage eventually shifts into revenge-thriller territory with Matt meting out justice given the lack of Bennett’s progress in the case. Kospiah’s twisty plotting is so flimsy that what transpires is meant to provide a series of jaw-dropping reveals. But by the time the film lumbers to its multiple conclusions, most viewers will be beyond caring. Balazs never generates enough emotion for any real investment in the story. And the coincidences that arise feel more like a too-clever screenwriter showing off than a grandly operatic finale.

Even as a low-budget film, where many of these elements—the “stylizing” acting, the intricate plotting—are expected, even desired, Rage feels both lazy and long.