Retribution is a very difficult film to get into as it seems devoid of both point and purpose for almost its entire running time. It eventually boils down to a father losing custody of his youngest son due to his unruly behaviour and due to the behaviour of his oldest son Jacob.
The big problem with this film is basically down to how it's actually been set up; this very thin story is about the failings of the father as a parent so therefore you would assume that most of the focus would be on the father himself, but the writers offer very little insight into Hollis as a character - it might have helped if the writers would have fleshed Hollis' character out more in order to make us understand his behaviour. It's mentioned that his wife has died and that he used to be a baseball star etc, but again these are just little threads that are mentioned, but I felt could have been expanded on more. It's very hard for me to get involved in a film when writers don't develop characters as I generally find that I won't care for a film if I'm given no reason to. The film also jumps around all over the place and just rambles on and on until eventually we get to the 'point' of the film about 10-15 minutes from the end. Aside from the father, the rest of the characters are rather one-note and shallow and as I've already mentioned this was a very hard film for me to care about.
The film has a sub-plot involving his eldest son competing in a motor-cross competition which didn't really go anywhere and seemed kind of pointless.
The only positive thing I can say about this film is that Aaron Paul was excellent and did everything he could with the material that he was given to work with. However that is the only good thing about this truly terrible film.
The big problem with this film is basically down to how it's actually been set up; this very thin story is about the failings of the father as a parent so therefore you would assume that most of the focus would be on the father himself, but the writers offer very little insight into Hollis as a character - it might have helped if the writers would have fleshed Hollis' character out more in order to make us understand his behaviour. It's mentioned that his wife has died and that he used to be a baseball star etc, but again these are just little threads that are mentioned, but I felt could have been expanded on more. It's very hard for me to get involved in a film when writers don't develop characters as I generally find that I won't care for a film if I'm given no reason to. The film also jumps around all over the place and just rambles on and on until eventually we get to the 'point' of the film about 10-15 minutes from the end. Aside from the father, the rest of the characters are rather one-note and shallow and as I've already mentioned this was a very hard film for me to care about.
The film has a sub-plot involving his eldest son competing in a motor-cross competition which didn't really go anywhere and seemed kind of pointless.
The only positive thing I can say about this film is that Aaron Paul was excellent and did everything he could with the material that he was given to work with. However that is the only good thing about this truly terrible film.