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Purely Joyful Movie!

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Just as I was going to bed this movie came on Showtime. It hooked me right from the beginning. That Robert Haley dude was scary man. There is just something utterly fascinating about gangster types who have no moral compass at all. This film captures that perfectly. You can tell it was low budget but it is NOT that obvious. Maybe like "El mariachi". Let's hope these guys can keep making movies. The only thing I did not like was we never saw the unblemished truth version of what really happened. I imagined that was coming and then the credits rolled. My feeling was that we would get a version from maybe a private eye or a gang rival who actually maybe watched it all from afar. You have no possible way of knowing what really happened. Yea, maybe that was the point especially with the opening quote but still... it is just a movie.

Well written small budget flick. No name actors put on a good show. Definitely adult orientated with some great gore and raunchy scenes.What is interesting is how this film tends to blend both the Crime and Slasher genres together. Not that genre is ever completely static, some films fitting into multiple genres, but rather that The Level combines elements of both the Crime and Slasher rather effectively. Aside from the story being about criminals there are some other more interesting connections. The plot is reminiscent of not only Reservoir Dogs but a whole slew of other Crime movies: Layer Cake, The Usual Suspects and even Double Indemnity. The quest for the truth is a compelling device that moves these stories forward. The Level uses this device not only for the plot but also as its introduction of Horror. Most of the gruesome violence is even executed via torture, further suturing 'truth-seeking' and horrific violence. What lends this film to Slasher is the extensive mutilation, gore, raunchiness and torture that almost overwhelms some parts of the narrative. Consider Junior's revival only to be re-killed via decapitation. Low budget Horror movies are often criticized for their weak plot. I mean, for the most part, the plot is just an excuse for the violence; especially in a good Slasher. That is what is interesting about The Level because the Crime genre is the driving force behind the horror.Overall, pretty decent, especially for its budget.

This is not a film to be forever written in the annals of cinematography but it is poignant tale of violence without glorification of the mob. If there is one distinctive character of this film it's it honesty. Yes, it's about cruelty, murder, vise of all kinds. It is suspenseful and unpredictable. All characters are killed, the assumptive protagonist is turned out to be a liar, similar to others, no better than the others, as it should and must be. He tells the story portraying him a reasonable person, even compassionate. Momentarily we may forget that he's an active participant of the mob, our minds are not ready to deal with complete negativity; we require a redeemer, someone positive, a counterweight to establish the equilibrium. Who triumphs? – yes, you guessed it – the boss - the most ruthless and unpretentious of them all. He's the arch-thug and does not make a secret of it. He can never be accused of being nice, he never thinks nice, nor acts nice, he does not need nor want anybody to think nice of him. He's honest. He rips out protagonist's tong because he would not tolerate lies and deceptions in his domain. This is fitting conclusion of a story of a mobster, who pretended to play the role of a 'good guy'.Often we are shown films, such as with Steven Seagal, where the protagonist, who demonstrates ruthlessness exceeding that of his opponents, somehow portraits as a positive character, avenging society. The reality is that this protagonist prevails because he was more ruthless than the 'bad guys'. We feel relieved that someone did this dirty job for us, or we feel, vicariously, to be this hero ourselves. Both feelings are deceptive – we are being manipulated to obtain inauthentic relief, like a junkie, offered a fix. Violence, if shown at all, need not to be cathartic, nor feel like pleasure, neither remembered as an agreeable experience. It should feels badly, for it is stupid and self-destructive activity, not to be indulged in.A better way to dispense with the story like this one is to pluck out the tong of the symbolic story tellers by not patronizing their films. In a way Jeff and Josh Crook did just that with regard to all this Mel Gibson's Hollywood trash. Their violence does not feel good – it feels ugly, pointless and dead; it has no future.

I was surprised at how enjoyable this movie was. Clearly not a big budget film, it ended up being quality entertainment.The story keeps you interested and guessing, so that in itself makes for better than a lot of movies of any budget.The acting is actually pretty good, especially considering there are no high priced actors, I think we'll be seeing more from a lot of them with this on their reels.There's definitely some brutal stuff, and some funny stuff.All in all I don't see anyone who is not expecting an Oscar worthy film being disappointed with watching this.