This foul-mouthed movie of a Kiwi biker gang never gets the thrilling it needs

SAVAGE (18) 100mins     

★★☆☆☆

NEW Zealand is less the beautiful location where The Lord Of The Rings was filmed and more a place of gangs, violence and unrelenting bleakness in Sam Kelly’s first feature film.

The writer-director’s story Savage begins in 1989 with facially tattooed gang member Danny (Jake Ryan), also known as “Damage” punishing another gang member with a hammer, so he certainly can’t do whatever it is he did, again.

1

The first ten minutes of dialogue is big on swearing and small on information – in fact, the relentless Fs and Cs are the only words I recognised in the gruff, strong accents.

After Danny meets a woman who asks about his tattoos, we are taken on a clunky flashback to 1965 where he was sent to juvenile jail for a small crime.

There he meets Moses (John Tui), setting him on the path to violence.

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Life is far from cosy, as family rejection makes him fiercely loyal to his gang.

But there’s very little love between the friends – apart from when Danny and Moses sing together by a burned-out car – making you question his devotion to the gang leader.

This story of supposed biker gang brotherhood never gets the exhilaration it needs.

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