The Avenger

A mysterious vigilante embarks on a relentless quest to punish those responsible for a brutal crime that shattered his life. As he hunts down each target, secrets about his past and the true nature of justice come to light. This gritty thriller blends revenge, moral ambiguity, and suspense in a dark tale of one man’s relentless pursuit of vengeance.

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  La muerte hace las maletas is a very handsomely shot and reasonably entertaining detective story, with good production values, a solid cast, and plenty of visual inventiveness, factors which help to alleviate one’s impatience with the tangled and obscurely motivated plot. … If this had been another of Franco’s ‘Red Lips’ films, with Janine Reynaud and Rosanna Yanni investigating, instead of bland Euro-hunk Fred Williams quivering indecisively between Eva Garden and Elisa Montés, like a blasé playboy at a society party, it would be far more memorable. Instead, what stays in your mind afterwards is the compositional elegance of the photography and mise-en-scène. There are some truly lovely shots involving mirrored hallways, spiral staircases, ornate balustrades, fluorescently illuminated nightclub table-tops, and a classic ‘shot from underneath’ moment peering at two characters through a glass coffee table strewn with bottles and decanters. Add to this a constant barrage of wide-angles, fish-eye lenses and deep focus and you’ll rarely see a more stylish and exuberantly mannered Seventies crime thriller. … So yes, dig the visuals, but the fact that this is supposed to be a thriller can lead to thwarted expectations.