Assault on Wall Street (2013) | Film Review

(Originally published on Letterboxd) - For being as terrible at filmmaking as he is, Uwe Boll is equally as prolific. It's becoming increasingly more difficult to hate on a man who manages to consistently churn out movie after movie, regardless of their quality. And if I'm being completely honest, his work is showing some marginal improvement. His writing is still crap, but his direction and pacing at least display the qualities of someone who knows what they're doing. Something that couldn't have been said for his earlier work.

Assault on Wall Street is Uwe Boll's revenge fantasy against bankers, lenders, and corporate CEO's who rig the financial game in their favor, and against the hard working everyman. In this story, that everyman is Jim (Dominic Purcell), an armored truck security guard. His wife suffers from brain tumors that require regular expensive treatments. All is well until the bulk of Jim's life savings are lost in a bad investment deal. Jim tries to stay calm while he falls further into debt, but amid expensive lawyers and garnished wages, it isn't long before Jim finds himself in a situation he can't control. Pretty soon the only recourse is revenge.

Assault is intended to be a visceral rallying cry for anyone that's been shafted by the 1%. We are supposed to feel for Jim, and enjoy his eventual rampage on the suits that screwed he, and countless others over. Unfortunately, because Jim is under developed as a character, he comes off as an aggressive asshole almost immediately. 

The rest of the cast is filled out with B movie standards: Keith David, Michael Pare, Eric Roberts, Lochlyn Munro, John Heard... even a chubby Edward Furlong comes along for the ride. Unfortunately, none of them are given much to do, which sucks, because the moments they're on screen are some of the best moments of the film.

Revenge fantasies are nothing new for Uwe. As I watched Assault, I couldn't help but think of Uwe's, Rampage, a story about an angry young man turn spree killer. Though the main character of that film was equally under developed, the killing spree carried a lot more weight because of who the targets were, and the motivations of the killer. Innocent people wear slaughtered for no reason, while in Assault, the reasons Jim's targets are crystal clear.

Assault on Wall Street wants to be the other side of the Wolf of Wall Street coin, but fails because it doesn't know how to properly motivate its hero so that we're on board with him. Instead it's just an hour and a half of self-pitying anger, featuring unlikable and unrelatable characters. When it comes to choosing which film to watch next, I'd consider Assault on Wall Street a bad investment.