A little boy watches as his mother is murdered before his eyes outside of the grocery store. The news reports that this is just the latest case of an undocumented migrant randomly killing an innocent bystander. People are panicking, and women fear going out alone at night. And the government isn’t doing anything to stop it. However, an unknown vigilante citizen has taken the matter into his own hands, going after these criminals, as well as those in power who allow this violence to go unchecked. The vigilante appears on social media with his face blurred out, announcing that the police and judicial systems are failing the public, and that someone needs to step in and help people find justice. The general public celebrate and praise this vigilante, and those abroad post on social media how they wish their own countries had a similar vigilante. However, not feeling the same joy is Interpol Regional Chief Henry (Costas Mandylor), who is actively trying to identify and stop this citizen vigilante.

Michael Sanders (Armie Hammer) is a wealthy American businessman living in Croatia. When he’s not checking on his many lucrative rental properties, he’s out looking for those who need a dose of his vigilante justice. Whether it’s those committing the crimes, or those who allow this behavior to continue—cops, politicians, judges, and even parent… they’re all just as guilty for perpetuating this violence. Sanders lures those in need of justice into his traps, firing a few rounds into them.

Citizen Vigilante comes from prolific writer/director Uwe Boll, who, in his video commentary track, likens the film to John Wick. While the story certainly has parallels to Wick in that it is a man who will stop at nothing to exact his form of justice, John Wick only really goes after general bad guys who directly cause harm, whereas Sanders is much more political in nature. He primarily targets migrants who do not share the same values of right and wrong, or criminals who the justice system refuses to deal with because of some “woke” policy (his word). For example, we see him take down a judge who refers to a teenage rapist as just another victim in the crime, saying that it would ruin the boy’s life to put him in jail. Sanders believes that rules are there for a reason, and that everyone should just follow them, or else we fall into chaos. When he discovers that 10% of his tenants are skipping out on their rent, and there’s nothing he can legally do to evict them, he tells his business manager that there are too many protections for people who break the law, and so he may need to handle things himself. Shortly after this, we see Sanders give a stern warning to three teens who board a bus and refuse to pay their fare, telling them that their actions have consequences—if 10% of the population decided they weren’t going to pay, it would just cause prices to go up by 10% to make up for this. He may be a bit warped, but he has a code. He even asks a rape victim what she would like to see happen to her attackers, though he’s a bit disappointed when she suggests life in prison, as that is an unlikely with such a corrupt system.

The film is quite bloody and violent, and tells an interesting story arc in under 90 minutes. I’m not a huge Uwe Boll fan, but I thought Citizen Vigilante was one of his better efforts. Uwe Boll is direct and unapologetic in his views, which are quite evident from both the film itself and by what he says in his commentary track. Like it or hate it, there is definitely a political slant to the way that Sanders picks his victims, but I think it actually works well for the film and the character. Armie Hammer is quite good and menacing in this role, playing this cold killer with a code. Sanders is always searching for his next victim, or reason to kill. He usually appears quite emotionless, but even the littlest thing can set him off, even something as small as noticing some mold on the ceiling of one of his apartment buildings. You never know how he is going to react to a situation. He could hold back and let people go with a warning, or he could just go postal.

Quiver Distribution/Alliance Home Entertainment have released Citizen Vigilante on Blu-ray & Digital. We were sent a copy of the Blu-ray release for review. The video presentation generally looks very good, with a crisp, clean picture that has an excellent level of detail in close-ups. However, the picture is not without its flaws. Solid backgrounds sometimes look muddled and pixelized. And example of this can be seen at 47:34 where the stark yellow wall in the background pixelizes several times over the course of a several seconds, looking almost like the wall is moving. Blood can sometimes be over-the-top, but the rich red tone really comes through. The audio presentation is solid, providing clear dialogue throughout, capturing the whizzing of gunfire, and offering an immersive ambiance.

The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a standard HD keepcase, without a slipcover. The disc offers 4 commentary tracks—a picture-in-picture video commentary with writer/director Uwe Boll, as well as three other audio commentaries from various other parties, one of which is actually a live reaction track from a reviewer watching for the first time. Other bonus material includes a very short video from star Costas Mandylor praising the director, as well as some trailers for other home video releases.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:28:45)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround,
• Subtitles: English (SDH/CC), French (FR)

Extras:

• Commentary Tracks
  These days when most releases tend to skimp on bonus material, this film offers four different commentary tracks! First is a video commentary from writer/director Uwe Boll, which is presented in picture-in-picture format. The filmmaker doesn’t hold back and shares his frank and honest views/opinions. The other three are audio commentaries from various Uwe Boll fans/reviewers, one of which is live reactions from someone watching the film for the first time. Select from:
  • Play Movie With Video Commentary by Uwe Boll (1:29:05)
    Writer and director Uwe Boll dives into the inspiration, story, politics, and production of Citizen Vigilante in this exclusive video commentary.
  • Commentary by Kenn A. Williams & Mike Leeder (1:28:45)
    Founder, Owner and Operator of Yippee Video, Kern A. Williams, and cult movie expert Mike Leeder discuss Uwe Boll’s Citizen Vigilante, getting old, and this Yippee exclusive release.
  • Commentary by Gary Otto & Mat Bradley-Tschirgi (1:28:45)
    Co-host of Uwe Boll: RAW, Gary Otto, and author of The Films of Uwe Boll, Vol. 1: The Video Game Movies (2003-2014), Mat Bradley-Tschirgi, discuss Uhe Boll’s Citizen Vigilante.
  • Commentary by Jessie Hobson (1:28:45)
    Owner and operator of CineDump, Jessie Hobson, delivers e real-time review of Uwe Boll’s Citizen Vigilante.
• Costas Mandylor on Uwe Boll (:57)
  Actor Costas Mandylor (“Interpol Regional Chief Henry”) praises director Uwe Boll in this short video recorded from his cell phone at the gym.
• Previews
  • Yippee Video Trailer: Albert Pyun’s Interstellar Civil War (1:42)
    Yippee Video is proud to present Albert Pyun’s final cinematic outing Interstellar Civil War for the first time ever on blu-ray with exclusive extras!
  • Yippee Video Trailer: Albert Pun’s Slinger (1:49)
    Yippee Video is proud to present Albert Pun’s cult classic SLINGER in it’s uncut, original form for the first time ever on blu-ray with exclusive extras!
  • Yippee Video Trailer: Uwe Boll’s Run (1:50)
    Yippee Video is proud to present Uwe Boll’s latest political thriller RUN for the first time ever on English, region-free blu-ray with exclusive extras!

Final Thoughts:

Citizen Vigilante won’t be for everyone, and certainly some will find it to be too political. I’m not a huge Uwe Boll fan, but I actually enjoyed this film, and found the nature of this vigilante character to be quite interesting and relevant to today. Armie Hammer is back to form, and is very good as this menacing vigilante. The technical presentation is generally very good, with a few visual hiccups that are mentioned in the review. The disc also include four commentary tracks, one of which is a video commentary from the writer/director. I think this film is worth checking out.