Apocalypse films and revenge films; those are my downfalls. Those are my easy buttons, the ones that really speak to me regardless. And like almost every other revenge film ever made, this is one that’s really based around rape, and sports more than one title. It depends in the end on what you want to call it: “Straightheads” or “Closure”? I prefer the former. If anything, regardless of its quality “Straightheads” features Gillian Anderson speaking in a Brit accent, and that’s not too shabby. Anderson is still a really sexy woman and the Brit accent only induces that atmosphere she possesses. “Straightheads,” as I call it, shows Anderson at her most raw. This is a role that shows Anderson completely going all out to bring home this revenge plot, featuring every bit of her body for the purposes of the brutality. Adam and Alice are friends who have bonded thanks to Adam’s installation of a security device at her home.

I think what hasn’t gelled with audiences is the fact that this isn’t a typical revenge film. “Straightheads” is instead a tale of morality, and sacrifices. It’s about how some of us would be willing to sell our souls to protect our loved ones if we had to. “Straightheads” is less a story of two people leaving a trail of bodies after their tragedy, but more about adding faces to these monsters and causing us to discuss what we’d do in this situation. Dan Reed doesn’t exactly strive for originality here because, let’s face it, there’s not much to be done with the sub-genre that hasn’t already been done better. But for what he explores here, he does his best to show our victims attempting to seek vengeance all the while faced with the prospect of death.

Death is not such an easy aspect in this plan for revenge, as they see the effects of this crime and know that it entails a great weight of guilt and self-righteousness. What Reed also conveys is this downward spiral that these two people experience as their sanity fades, and they soon deteriorate. The gradual metamorphosis makes for the best scenes in the film as Anderson and Dyer have a great chemistry that enables them to properly convince us of the effects of this random attack. When all is said and done, Reed asks us to examine what had happened and if anyone actually won out in the climax. Revenge is never healthy, and violence changes us. I think he extrapolates such questions with sheer skill.

I loved this film, not just because it’s a story of revenge, but it’s also a story of how far we’d go to protect the people we love, even if it meant hurting others in the process. Gillian Anderson and Danny Dyer give wonderful performances complimented by a deliberately paced story of crimes and their long last effects.

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