MARTYRS - whoa.

Ah crap, is this a sure fire sign of my age? Once upon a time I am thinking I would have been all over this film, proclaiming it a gift from the Gods! It would have shot to my “number one with a bullet” top spot. It would have been something I would have named my kids after. It would have been something I watched every single night before bed.

Now, it is far from all of that.

Martyrs is the tale of Lucie, a girl who escapes from a warehouse of torture. As she ages she becomes close with Anna and is tortured by some strange naked ugly creature (female we eventually find out). The middle part of the film is full-on revenge film. I mean, full on, no holds barred, vicious. It happens like a storm and is over before you know it. Yet, this is not where the film ends. It takes a turn that is somewhat of a surprise, unless you think about it a bit. But from that point it turns into the Torture Porn subgenre, but it does try to impose a message of sorts, or try and give an original story.

The thing is, however, that the whole films ground on my nerves, when we finally get to the last half hour, I had finally had it with the whole thing. The film hits you so hard, that by the time we get to the vicious torture aspect of the ending, we are completely worn out. For me, I was just beyond wanting to see any more of the film.

The big problem for me, with films such as this, is that we know the outcome before it happens. A bigger problem for me with Martyrs is that the film plays with reality so much, and requires NO suspension of disbelief, that when we get to the final act, we know the outcome.

SPOILER!!!

There is no saving grace in this film, there is no beaten woman coming back to fight for her life and take down the big nasty evil guy, or underground society. Once Anna is in her dire situation, and we see how futile it all is, we know exactly what is going to happen. In all honesty, however, if you know this genre at all, you know the outcome before the movie really gets going. You can just feel it from the beginning.

There was just so much about the movie I disliked. By the time it ended, I sat there wondering why the heck I spent my evening this way. The film really irked me. I mean, really irked me.

In the films defense, it seems I am one of the few who dislikes it. Heck, I’m possibly the only one who thinks it complete trash. I think I have hit a point where I have no interest in seeing people do this type of thing to other people. I don’t know, though, maybe if it didn’t get as overly vicious as it does get I might have been a little bit better with it all. Heck, the remake of Friday The 13^th was on last night, and I was reminded that I kind of got a kick out of that one.

Eh, I guess I am just getting old. Either that or the world is becoming that much more jaded.