Painkiller

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Louis M 08/16/2023 Inspired editing brings this thrilling docu-drama to life. Masterfully communicating its hard-hitting story and message through interweaving stories and Aduba's stand out performance. See more BOK B 08/16/2023 Truly incredible! Great performances. After the distraction of Covid we poignantly return to the earlier (and still existing) disaster of OxyContin and precisely how thousands died right before our eyes. See more Jeffery P 08/13/2023 I think Dopesick did it better. But it was still heart-rending. The performance were excellent. I would have preferred a longer resolution with more details. Doing followup end title cards just doesn't seem to cut it dramatically. Especially when the series flirts with some over the top visuals throughout. I would still recommend it. It's engrossing. See more Charles M @relocateusa 08/13/2023 Would have much rather have had a long documentary and real stories than the way they made it. Stopped watching by the thirdly episode See more William B @williamB 08/12/2023 I think there is some confusion about this movie versus the new tv series with the same name. How did this movie get on RT's top streaming movies list on their main landing page?? This is a truly horrible C film at best. These actors couldn't get cast in an high school play. Again, I think there is some confusion between movies and tv series with the name "Painkiller". See more 07/11/2021 Bill Oberst Jr's 'Bill Johnson', every-man urban vigilante, demonstrates barely contained rage; with pressed lips and stony determination, he spits out lines of dialog on his radio show like a sinner at a confessional. He's cognisant that he has fallen into the 'two wrongs don't make a right' territory, but is unable to stop. In the too-few moments of clarity for his character, delivered mainly in voice-over, his targeted hatred at the greed and callousness of 'Big Pharma' executives that indirectly caused his child, and those of thousands of others daily, to die, is exposed as merely the surface reaction to a much deeper trauma. In the film's waning moments, his anguished 'I just want my daughter back' line cements what this film is really about; grief at the loss of a loved one. Thus, while on the most superficial level this film is a throwback 1980's style revenge thriller complete with a big-gun wielding protagonist, the casting of an actor such as Bill Oberst Jr. denotes there is much more at play here. Reprising his role from 'Stressed To Kill' (which is not adequately explained within the story; this film is a sequel-of-sorts), the actor is 'not' a musclebound cinema brute. This is no 'Rambo', armed and dangerous. This is a man with a history of heart trouble who, symbolically, had his heart broken between the two film's backstory timeline, and now chooses to respond in a very specific way; he sets no traps, spouts only the most basic of one-liners, and in general is not an effective, hulking threat, but simply a man with nothing left to lose and a strong desire to make it right. It is fitting that, as he purges himself of the grief and shame he feels for his daughter's death, he finds himself reaching a peaceful moment in time. This is the 'right' life choice for him physically 'and' emotionally, and the audience, though society would dictate otherwise given the law-abiding nature of the majority, in the most primal ways agrees with him. The score is excellent. The setting, lush and verdant and wide-open, allow for much free-roam opportunities and the aerial shots lend themselves well to establishing that this is no crisis confined to back alleys or ghetto neighbourhoods. With a mask stained with the remnants of Old Glory over bleak white to represent every square inch of land in the USA that the painkiller crisis has touched, Bill Oberst Jr leads an engaged if not spectacular cast in a film that punches above it's weight in messaging and timeliness. See more Read all reviews

Painkiller

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