From the outset, director Ahishor Solomon takes his time to get to the point. This would be acceptable if we were seeing something new, but all we get are variations of stock film situations. An endless funeral scene you've seen way too many times, a torture scene involving force-feeding, the protagonist holed up in a tawdry hotel with the obligatory neon lighting his room. Most of these overdrawn scenes - almost all in the first half - only serve to establish character. There is very little plot up front and at intermission, you're clueless about the film with no real crisis in the offing, beckoning you back in your seat with the popcorn. The last time I felt this way was while watching The Usual Suspects. I can tell you now, there's no Keyser Sozelevel turn of events at the end.

But you see what the writers and director are trying to do here. John Day is a character study, where the meek inherits the earth and the monster vindicates his existence. Circumstances force people to change and this is what Solomon is trying to say. He just takes a very, very long time and a highly contrived manner to get to it. The only surprises are moments of sudden and sheer violence. A tongue ripped out, a head battered to mush; all in bloody glory. If it's technical command you're looking for, John Day has plenty of it.

But expository dialogue, inconsistent performances (Hooda and his slowest of drawls), and halfbaked secondary characters (a tattooed, alcoholic, unreasonable girlfriend who wants kids is nothing but a collection of adjectives unsteadily put together by Elena Kazan) that are its undoing