Man Of The Year

This movie starts out pretty well, like City Of God, only without the extreme violence. But it quickly ditches any cool ideas and degenerates into mindless killing, with little or no effect upon the audience. Any further comparison to the aforementioned movie should be avoided.

Maiquel, who looks like Nick Stahl from Terminator 3, is just an average dude. But when he dyes his hair blonde, some guy in a bar makes fun of him.

He shoots him.

Instead of getting into trouble for murder, he is thanked for ridding the community of a rascal. People shower him with praise and give him presents and his hairdresser takes a shine to him, as well as the girlfriend of the victim.

Upon a trip to the dentist, who is also a fan of his slaying, he is offered free dental care if he offs the man who raped his daughter. Maiquel complies.

It's at this point that the movie could have taken a trip into originality. Instead, Maiquel runs all over town, blowing people away for uninteresting reasons and sleeps with loads of women. He has a pet pig that he loves dearly and constantly walks around with a brick face. I've no idea how we are supposed to sympathize with this character, or be on his side.

The killings are too abundant, with no emotion or drama attached. It's insane how an ordinary guy can slip so easily into this life of mass murder, without showing any feelings.

None of this is satirical, or humorous. With the exception of the pig scenes, it's played straight. And, like the protagonist, you'll be watching with no expression on your face.

City Of God, it ain't.