While F. Gary Gray made his contribution to the mega-successful action film series around Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto with “Fast & Furious 8”, the director was known for many years above all for his relentless revenge tearers and highly exciting vigilante thrillers such as “A matter of negotiation”, “Law of Revenge” or “Extreme Rage”, for which Gray already worked together with Vin Diesel in 2003 – at that time, however, less successfully.
The film grossed only 44.3 million dollars worldwide and is therefore considered a complete flop from an economic point of view. But “Extreme Rage” not only crashed financially, the trade press was also unenthusiastic: the average ratings on review platforms such as Metacritic (36 out of 100 points) and Rotten Tomatoes (11 percent positive reviews) face a similar meager 2 out of 5 stars in the DashFUN review. Vin Diesel fans who may not be familiar with the superstar’s little-known film be warned – now’s your chance to fill that gap in a particularly convenient way. Extreme Rage is available now with an Amazon Prime Video subscription:
» “Extreme Rage” on Amazon Prime Video*
You don’t have a Prime subscription and didn’t want to take out one for the diesel actioner? Then Netflix suggests itself as an alternative, because “Extreme Rage” is currently also available there.
After growing up as a petty criminal in the Los Angeles gang milieu, Sean Vetter (Vin Diesel) turns to crime-fighting as a DEA narcotics officer. When he and his partner Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate) take on a powerful drug lord of the Mexican cartel and eventually put him behind bars, he doesn’t have much time to savor the triumph. Because now he has the new ruler of the cocaine empire breathing down his neck. The first official act of the mysterious, under the name “Diablo” well-known crime boss: the hunt for Sean Vetter.
Diablo’s henchmen take on the DEA agent, who just barely escapes the hail of bullets. However, his wife Stacy (Jacqueline Obradors) was less fortunate in the assassination attempt – and dies. Filled with hate, the grieving widower Vetter now has only one thing in mind: revenge.
While F. Gary Gray regularly entertains us with films like “Straight Outta Compton”, “The Italian Job”, “Be Cool” or the thrillers mentioned at the beginning, “Extreme Rage” is not exactly one of the highlights of the filmmaker’s career . If you’re hoping for a continuous fire of action, you should be prepared for a good portion of idleness, but the dialogues are too flat for a really gripping drama anyway the revenge thriller sinks far too often into old-fashioned clichéswhich noticeably spoil the film experience.
Our critic Jürgen Armbruster, who in the end gave it just 2 out of 5 possible stars, praises Vin Diesel, who is not exactly known for his adaptability as an actor, who is not exactly known for his versatility as an actor, but who nevertheless portrays his role as believable. In the end, you have to decide for yourself whether that alone is enough to invest two hours of your life…
*The link to the Amazon offer is a so-called affiliate link. If you make a purchase through this link, we will receive a commission.
This is a re-release of an article previously published on DashFUN.
