You can’t accuse director Uwe Boll of having thin skin.
Film critics have been brutal to the German filmmaker behind “Rampage,” “House of the Dead,” and “Postal.” He once challenged his harshest critics to a boxing match to settle the score.
‘If I have six neo-Nazis raping a migrant girl, there would be no issues. Unfortunately, the criminal statistics show the [opposite].’
He knows he’ll never be an awards season darling, so when a reviewer dubbed him a “right-wing fascist” over his latest film, he shook it off like a glancing uppercut.
He saw those comments coming a mile away.
Culture war TKO
Even by Boll’s pugnacious standards, “Citizen Vigilante” is a culture war TKO. Armie Hammer, working his way back after personal revelations crushed his career, stars as a man fed up with migrant violence in Europe.
So he decides to do something about it. Think “Death Wish” with an agenda no Hollywood studio would touch.
Boll tells Blaze Lifestyle the aforementioned reviewer has every right to dislike “Citizen Vigilante,” out in the U.S. today, but he takes issue with that political slam.
“What is right-wing in saying rapists should not get off the hook?” Boll asked. Critics of unfettered illegal immigration point to high-profile cases where violent migrant offenders were spared harsh sentences.
Pardoning predators
The zeitgeist is in Boll’s corner in more ways than one.
“Citizen Vigilante” arrives days after a shocking U.K. rape gang inquiry report detailed chronic abuse across Great Britain. Migrant crime isn’t relegated to the U.K., an issue Boll explores in his violent, politically incorrect film.
For Boll, hearing stories of sexual predators getting slaps on the wrist proved bad enough. Reading reports of judges excusing the violence based on a perpetrator’s brutal youth enraged him.
“Newspapers called them poor, traumatized people who grew up with violence … but who gives a s**t? … Maybe they’re traumatized. Why are we importing them?” he asked.
“I have nothing against migrants — if they follow the rules and the law,” he added, accusing European news outlets of diminishing statistics tied to migrant crime.
“I have no words for it. … It’s the most absurd thing in my lifetime,” the 60-year-old filmmaker said.
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Unflinching violence
“Citizen Vigilante” lets Boll respond to those heartbreaking news stories sans filter. Hammer’s character seeks justice when the courts fail to dole out what he thinks is sufficient punishment.
The on-screen violence is unflinching.
“It’s the only movie out there that shows brutally the situation,” he said, noting that he included a shocking murder in the film’s opening scene to highlight the security concerns citizens face.
He’s also angry that his home country refused to rate his film and, more recently, banned it from theaters for allegedly promoting vigilante behavior. The ratings decision boils down to politics, he alleged.
“If I have six neo-Nazis raping a migrant girl, there would be no issues. Unfortunately, the criminal statistics show the [opposite],” he said.
He said he appealed the ratings decision to three separate guilds — directors, writers, and producers.
“I’m a member for 30 years. … Nobody even answered. Dead silence,” he said.
As for promoting violence, Boll said the film’s context drew his homeland’s ire, not the on-screen mayhem.
“Any Jason Statham movie would incite violence [too],” he argued, noting the action star’s penchant for heroes who take the law into their own hands.
“If [British Prime Minister] Keir Starmer sees [“Citizen Vigilante”] he will maybe put an arrest warrant out on me,” Boll said, perhaps tongue in cheek. Perhaps not.
Boll’s blacklist
Germany’s banishment wasn’t the only obstacle he faced while preparing “Citizen Vigilante” for its theatrical run. The film’s director of photography refused to be credited on the project, saying it might cost him future jobs.
Boll said Croatian officials offered him tax rebates to shoot “Citizen Vigilante” in the country, but the rebates were rescinded mid-production.
Hollywood has been abuzz with talk of free speech and alleged censorship by the Trump administration. Boll said he hasn’t gotten support from any Hollywood artists, and his fellow citizens aren’t much better.
“In Germany they’re all hanging onto [film] subsidies. … They’re all very careful,” he said, noting that a few actors reached out privately.
“You’re totally right, but don’t name me,” he recalled of their messages.
Blind casting
Boll isn’t just critical of the migration issue. He’s that rare storyteller who doesn’t pledge allegiance to DEI policies in the arts.
“I cast the way I should cast, not like I need X amount of Asians or X amount of blacks. … I hire people based on their qualifications, … not based if you’re a lesbian transgender Asian. … That’s how it has to be.”
Hammer’s character in “Citizen Vigilante” may reflect a cinematic antihero that dates back to Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” days in the early 1970s. Boll had little interest in deifying his film’s judge, jury, and executioner.
“He’s not this white knight guy. … He’s a loner. He’s also able to do the actions he’s doing … to execute them properly. … That’s a more realistic approach,” he said. “Audiences should discuss it for themselves. … Is he going too far?”
Lifestyle, Movies, Uwe boll, Immigration, Migrant, Hollywood, Entertainment, Interview
