Brutal 'Green Room' showcases the late Anton Yelchin
The freak accident that killed Anton Yelchin last month shouldn’t be the only thing we think about when he appears onscreen in a number of posthumous projects.
At only age 27, Yelchin had a stealthily-good resume. With an eclectic mix of movies big (the “Star Trek” reboot series) and small (“Charlie Bartlett,” “Alpha Dog”), Yelchin never played a role quite straight, even down to the way his unique cadence could enhance the most banal movie dialogue.
His leading performance is a major asset to the gruesome thriller, “Green Room,” from Jeremy Saulnier, the writer/director of the terrific, low-fi revenge tale, “Blue Ruin.” Yelchin’s presence helps the film cling to humanity even as the plot nose dives into shocking bursts of violence.
Yelchin plays a member of a punk band trapped in the worst concert after-party ever. After the band reluctantly plays to a group of skinheads at a compound in the woods, Yelchin’s character, Pat, stumbles back into the green room in search of a cellphone. Instead, he finds a dead body.
Within seconds, Pat and the band are locked inside the room with a group of especially sketchy individuals, including the likely murderer. The real threat of violence, however, lies just outside the door, where the venue owner (Patrick Stewart) and his neo-Nazi goons plot ways to scrub the crime scene and eliminate extraneous witnesses.
Like in “Blue Ruin,” director Saulnier crafts a series of economical, overwhelmingly tense sequences. There’s no need for fight choreography or explosions when the simple opening of a door generates the kind of pulsating stress you’d find in a classic slasher flick.
The violence is especially vicious, though Saulnier understands how and where to deploy the gore in order to maximize its impact. This isn’t a movie that celebrates violence. It’s blunt and devastating — making each horrific act feel all the more real.
Stewart, typically a stalwart and paternal figure onscreen, is chilling and low-key as the big bad. The actor forgoes the usual scene-chewing deployed in this type of role and creates a character who terrifies with stillness. Sometimes it’s the soft-spoken ones you’ve got to worry about. To drive home the point, Stewart’s character at one point even complains about how yelling makes his throat hurt.
With great direction and a great villain, “Green Room” still succeeds most when it hangs with Yelchin and his trapped companions (Imogen Poots and Alia Shawkat are especially strong). The innocence of his character matters in a movie full of monsters. Yelchin’s best moment is a heroic pep-talk that is immediately and hilariously deflated by the circumstances.
Yelchin made a career out of humanizing seemingly stock characters. Just look at the impact he makes in the “Star Trek” films with such limited screen time. Yelchin can be seen in next week’s “Star Trek Beyond” and a few other projects that will stretch into next year. It won’t be enough.
“Green Room” is now available on home video and digital rental/purchase.
•••
Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.