Raze (2013) Zoë Bell, Rachel Nichols, Tracie Thoms, Bruce Thomas Movie Review

Raze (2013)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Zoë Bell in Raze (2013)

Battle Till the Bell

The last thing Sabrina (Zoë Bell) could remember was going out the night before, that is until she woke up in what seemed to be a modern day coliseum. And Sabrina is not alone as there are lots of other women who have woken up unable to explain how they got there whilst being watched by an unseen audience through the cameras mounted on the walls. But as a coliseum Sabrina and these other women learn they are there to fight each other to the death or else the ones they love will end up victims of those behind it.

From a creativity point of view I really like "Raze". Take some familiar ideas such as waking up having been abducted and finding yourself in a last man standing style competition but make the focus women and make the setting a series of rooms and cells which form a coliseum style battleground. Throw in some other characters such as guards and the quirky couple who are behind it and "Raze" has the potential to be dark, violent and memorable.

Unfortunately "Raze" never reaches the heights, or is that sink to the lows, which are expected. All the stuff in between the various fights ends up filler which Doug Jones and Sherilyn Fenn doing their best to make it entertaining but is unable to. And then there are the fight scenes which due to the idea of having them take place in a small room ends up messy and rough, often destroyed by over editing which removes the power of the fight. It is a shame as all the time you find yourself thinking what could have been done rather than what they did because what they did is only okay.

Now taking "Raze" down to a base level of woman on woman action as they roll around and fight I can't say it works either, it isn't that sort of hot movie which may disappoint some audiences. In fact there is something more sadistic to it which might actually appeal to others. It is also a movie which doesn't allow the actors a lot of room to create characters. As such whilst Zoë Bell impresses when it comes to the action she doesn't get the opportunity to show a great deal of her acting skills.

What this all boils down to is that "Raze" features a strong idea but sadly only ends up a moderately memorable movie because so much of it is average.


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