Not only does poor old Jean Lerner (Selma Blair) get gang raped, beaten and violated with a broken bottle, but she is also forced to shoot her own mother to end her ordeal and save her own life. The sadistic gang that subjected her to this horror are apprehended by the police, but are allowed to walk free after vital evidence is accidentally destroyed and it is found that violence was used to obtain a confession. Naturally, Jean is more than a little upset.
So when the gang members' loved ones begin to turn up dead, with part of a scientific equation carved into their corpses, detective Eddie Argo (Stellan Skarsgård) naturally assumes that Jean is out for revenge. Which she is. But she is also attempting to ease her own conscience over killing her mum: by kidnapping each gang member, plus their nearest and dearest, and then giving each scumbag the option of saving their own skin by offing their loved ones, Jean is trying to prove the WAZ equation, which claims that no creature is naturally altruistic.
As Argo slowly closes in on Lerner, his partner, rookie cop Helen Westcott (Melissa George) begins to suspect that there is much more to this case than at first meets the eye.
A grimy thriller in the vein of Se7en, but one that has an eye firmly fixed on today's torture-porn audiences, WAZ features plenty of nastiness, is suitably stylish, and includes the obligatory surprise ending that no self-respecting modern horror/thriller would be seen without. But despite having all the right ingredients, the film isn't as effective as those it seeks to emulate.
There are way too many talky scenes that interrupt the flow of the story and only serve to dissipate the tension; nearly all of the characters are unlikeable; the nasty bits leave far too much to the imagination (saves on Make-up FX, I suppose); and the finalé is... well... it's all a bit unbelievable and revolves around the most unlikely pair of cinematic lovers that I think I have ever seen.
If you are about to settle down to watch this film, I would like to suggest a drinking game that might make things a little more entertaining: take a drink every time someone gets in or out of a car, or whenever Skarsgård lights up a cigarette, and draws on it with such intensity that the tobacco can be heard 'crackling' as it burns. I guarantee you'll be hammered by the end of the film!
So when the gang members' loved ones begin to turn up dead, with part of a scientific equation carved into their corpses, detective Eddie Argo (Stellan Skarsgård) naturally assumes that Jean is out for revenge. Which she is. But she is also attempting to ease her own conscience over killing her mum: by kidnapping each gang member, plus their nearest and dearest, and then giving each scumbag the option of saving their own skin by offing their loved ones, Jean is trying to prove the WAZ equation, which claims that no creature is naturally altruistic.
As Argo slowly closes in on Lerner, his partner, rookie cop Helen Westcott (Melissa George) begins to suspect that there is much more to this case than at first meets the eye.
A grimy thriller in the vein of Se7en, but one that has an eye firmly fixed on today's torture-porn audiences, WAZ features plenty of nastiness, is suitably stylish, and includes the obligatory surprise ending that no self-respecting modern horror/thriller would be seen without. But despite having all the right ingredients, the film isn't as effective as those it seeks to emulate.
There are way too many talky scenes that interrupt the flow of the story and only serve to dissipate the tension; nearly all of the characters are unlikeable; the nasty bits leave far too much to the imagination (saves on Make-up FX, I suppose); and the finalé is... well... it's all a bit unbelievable and revolves around the most unlikely pair of cinematic lovers that I think I have ever seen.
If you are about to settle down to watch this film, I would like to suggest a drinking game that might make things a little more entertaining: take a drink every time someone gets in or out of a car, or whenever Skarsgård lights up a cigarette, and draws on it with such intensity that the tobacco can be heard 'crackling' as it burns. I guarantee you'll be hammered by the end of the film!