REVIEW: ‘Why Don’t You Just Die!’
Photo: Aleksandr Kuznetsov stars in the new action-comedy Why Don’t You Just Die! Photo courtesy of Arrow Video / Provided by press rep with permission.
Why Don’t You Just Die!, the movie with perhaps the most straightforward title in the history of movie titles, has recently been released on digital platforms and blu-ray. The Russian-language film, directed by Kirill Sokolov, is a violent affair that mixes blood, guts and intricately choreographed fight sequences. For those who grew up on the movies of Bruce Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Lucio Fulci, Just Die proves to be a rip-roaring onslaught to the senses, a movie that hardly takes a breath and refuses to pull the camera away when the carnage begins. For others, the splattering in the film might be a bit stomach-churning — which is exactly the point.
The thinly veiled plot involves Matvey (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) stopping over at his girlfriend’s house to confront her father, who allegedly abused her when she was a young girl. This father figure, Andrey (Vitaliy Khaev), is a bear of a man, towering over Matvey and with more brute force in his pinky than most adults have in their entire body. He’s menacing, even in the way he eats his food at the kitchen table.
The plot essentially ends there. Matvey and Andrey, with Andrey’s wife standing nearby, proceed to beat each other up in a dazzling display of fists, kicks and almost cartoonish violence. The fact that all of the action takes place in Andrey’s apartment, within confined, wallpapered walls and a small bathroom, is ingenious because it centers the action on one setting (almost like a theatrical play) and offers insight into the very serious issue of violence in the home.
One can easily be horrified by the level of brutality in the movie, or oddly one can find it humorous. The proceedings become so over the top that it becomes obvious that Sokolov, who also wrote the script, is offering a biting commentary on society, Russia and the ongoing violence that can be found in the world. Some of these sequences are so outlandish in their precision and unbelievable details that one almost has to take the kicking and fighting as a metaphor. When a large-screen TV is launched across the living room and lands in the face of the victim, realism is thrown out the window (or more like smashed over someone’s head).
There are points in the film when it feels like the paper-thin pot is being stretched a bit too far. A secondary story involving Andrey’s ex-partner who was slighted on a bad-deal-gone-worse seems to be solely included in the film in order to prolong the running time to a respectable 90+ minutes. Also the violence can be so numbing that the message of the drama is sometimes lost.
Still, the fight sequences are dazzling in their balletic timing and precise movements. There appears to be innumerable ways to hurt a foe, and Matvey and Andrey exploit each and every one of them. In fact, like a boxing match, one begins rooting for Matvey to survive the ordeal because he seems to be one of the few characters displaying heroic qualities — although his resorting to violence has to be a mark against him.
There’s a definite parallel to Tarantino’s revenge flicks, especially the Kill Bill series, but there’s probably more of a connection to Lee’s martial arts displays. The action in Just Die is not martial arts per say, but it has such a stylized form that it could be defined as being in the same school.
Why Don’t You Just Die!, available from Arrow Video on such platforms as iTunes, Amazon and Google Play, is a wonderfully zany and brutal comedy that will test the patience and stomach of the viewer, which is exactly what some people are looking for (and what others try to avoid).
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Why Don’t You Just Die! (2018). Written and directed by Kirill Sokolov. Starring Aleksandr Kuznetsov and Vitaliy Khaev. Running time: 99 minutes. Rating: 
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