Nerdly » ‘I Am Rage’ Review

02nd Aug2023

‘I Am Rage’ Review

by Kevin Haldon

Stars: Hannaj Bang Bendz, Jamie Chambers, Marta Svetka | Written by Steven Durham | Directed by David Ryan Keith

So my father didn’t really teach me much in the way of life lessons but he did impart one piece of wisdom to live by… “Kevin,” he said, “you can never trust a man with three first names”.

It was with that in mind that I sat down to watch director David Ryan Keith’s latest project I Am Rage. Billed as a woman on a mission of revenge thriller from the team behind 2020 flick Army of One. Another female-driven thriller that I really dug and going by the trailer we were in for more of the same only dialled up to 11.

Erin (Hannaj Bang Bendz) is off to the countryside with her boyfriend, his brother and his brother’s new girl. While staying at the peaceful retreat our girls are about to meet ‘The Family’. Come to find out that this particular family are actually a part of an ancient Blood Cult, kidnapping folks and harvesting their blood to sell to mega-rich clients. It’s not long before the tables are turned and we begin to realise Erin is a psychopathic, unhinged rage beast due to years of abuse and torture. Soon the hunt is on. Question is… Who is hunting who?.

I am going to start by saying Hannaj Bang Bendz is somewhat of a revelation to me, she is not an actress I was familiar with but in this 1hr 30 odd runtime, it became pretty clear to me we could potentially be looking at a future badass leading lady action star. Equal parts Linda Hamilton mixed with Cynthia Rothrock and honestly I am there for all of it. Top all that off with the fact she is a Brit and that’s all she wrote, cast this lady in everything!

Of course, this is an ensemble so let’s dive into the blood family. The Father of the family, Jamie Chambers, is someone I am familiar with having recently watched Morris Men (if you have not seen it, make sure you do). Chambers completely got the memo on this flick and played it as such, I was a big fan of this role for Chambers. And talking about people that got the memo, Marta Svetka as Margaret is great in the role and really plays it perfectly against Hannaj. Svetka plays a much-needed slightly over-the-top monster, bringing the charisma that perfectly compliments our rage beast hero, who is bringing all of the intensity and that dead behind-the-eyes look.

Some areas that the movie does falter slightly is the fact that we have a blood-harvesting B-plot that gets way more convoluted than it needs to be. Yeah okay, it pads the runtime and gives us some motivations. But we have allusions to our girl’s past and can see she is two seconds away from going nuclear, so when the family “Hard Target” Erin (shit, now I really wanna watch Hard Target). I was already there. It’s not a huge thing and does explain the family but there are a couple of scenes I just felt were going too much into it.

The fight choreography is damn good too with our core cast getting their licks in and selling the crap out of the action, helped along by the real-life combat chops of some of our stars.

I found I Am Rage highly entertaining. A really quick and easy watch that wastes little to no time getting into the action and then doesn’t let up throughout. Steven Durham (director of Army of One and writer of I am Rage) has written a compelling and believable leading lady, put her smack dab in the middle of a slightly absurd situation whereby forcing her to use some extreme measures to survive that will have your heart bursting out of your chest (literally in some cases). David Ryan Keith assembled a team that somehow managed to make it all seem entirely logical to me. There is a bunch to enjoy in this movie and enjoy it I did.

I Am Rage is definitely one of those movies that will take you by surprise and remind you just how good independent cinema can be with a passionate crew and a damn fine cast.