Damaged: Review. By Simon Lalji.

Horror. Pure and utter painful horror.

Hollywood legend Samuel L. Jackson’s latest horror/crime flick ‘Damaged’ follows detectives Glen Boyd (Gianni Capaldi) and Dan Lawson (Samuel L. Jackson) on a manhunt for a sadistic, seemingly satanic, Scottish serial killer who may just require more than a standard prison sentence. Everyone knows the name Samuel L. Jackson, the man, the myth, the legend that has defined Hollywood since the 1970s from Pulp Fiction to Django Unchained but can this legend save an entire film production?

Unfortunately, all streaks have to end as it pains to say that ‘Damaged’ is simply not going to appeal to most. Even a movie star such as Jackson cannot retain the quality of a film that simply doesn’t have any sense of self identity, or that for that matter, a film which seems to craft hardly an ounce of quality. The film sadly presents the looming presence of a half baked picture full of obvious deleted and incomplete scenes, downright bizarre musical choices and worst of all, shockingly noticeable reflections of the film’s camera crew.

Suffice to say, ‘Damaged’ presents one of the most frustrating experiences ever put to film due to the trying fact that writer and star of the film Gianni Capaldi blatantly had a clear creative vision with the utmost potential to craft a unique, suspenseful and star infused film. Regrettably Capaldi was simply incapable this time round as the film continuously shoots itself in the foot through being simply obsessed with the looming mystery of the killer’s identity it almost forgets to develop all other aspects of the film as each character has little to any personality creating a harmful void between character and audience.

This causes the audience to not only dismiss each character but it conjures the ultimate cinema sin of boredom, thus making the story at hand lackluster, dull and repetitive. Thus leaving the central character of Boid to simply be a void of underdeveloped and downright uninteresting as the character has virtually no personality and is simply used as a plot device to spew exposition to the audience. 

To the surprise of no one, the film’s one saving grace is of course Samuel L. Jackson who by the end of the film crafts a character right up Jackson’s alley. He quite clearly has fun with the role, crafting a character that may not be full of depth or development but certainly possesses the classic Samuel L. Jackson, charismatic wit and charm that has time and time again worked in Jackson’s favor as he and he alone creates a tolerable viewing experience.

Though the ending twist of Jackson’s character may be baffling and narratively destroys all previously announced continuity throughout the film, there is no doubt that it provides Jackson with a fun, entertaining and tension filled performance, albeit through a lackluster character Jackson shines above his fellow co-stars. 

Overall, while there’s a clear effort put into the film ‘Damaged’ is painfully and regrettably not worth your time as it’s filled with atrocious dialogue, sinful music choices and an ending that will surely create anger in most.

1/5 stars

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