MAYHEM (2017)

Studio:       RLJ Entertainment
Director:    Joe Lynch
Writer:       Matias Caruso
Producer:  Mehrdad Elie, Sean Sorensen, Lawrence Mattis, Matt Smith, Parisa Caviani
Stars:     Steven Yeun, Samara Weaving, Dallas Roberts, Caroline Chikezie, Mark Steven Frost, Kerry Fox, Lucy Chappell, Steven Brand

Review Score:

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Summary:

A fired lawyer battles his way to his bosses for revenge after their office building is consumed by a madness-inducing virus.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

The deadly ID-7 virus, also called “the red eye virus,” is known to attack the human brain’s id, causing people to lose control of their inhibitions as stress hormone levels rise. Infected humans turn murderous, acting on rage impulses that cause them to attack other people. Following a fatal ID-7 outbreak, upstart attorney Derek Cho rose through the ranks at Towers and Smythe Consulting by getting client Nevil Reed acquitted of murder after successfully arguing a viral infection defense.

Melanie Cross comes to the Towers and Smythe building trying to prevent foreclosure on her home. Derek notices firm partner Irene Smythe’s name on Melanie’s paperwork and, realizing there is little he can do, dismisses Melanie. Melanie becomes belligerent and is taken away by security.

Derek discovers that Kara Powell, the firm’s Director of Communications known as ‘The Siren,’ is setting him up to take the fall for a botched assignment on the Vanda Corp account. Derek and Kara have a contentious conversation with ‘The Boss’ John Towers about the file, after which John sides with Kara.

Known as ‘The Reaper,’ callous Lester McGill from Human Resources comes to Derek’s office to fire him. Derek unsuccessfully demands to speak to the board of directors, also known as ‘The Nine,’ to present his side of the story.

An ID-7 outbreak infects everyone in the office. CDC and SWAT quarantine the building while a neutralizer works through the ventilation system. However, everyone is to be forcibly locked inside for the next eight hours, the time it takes for the virus to be neutralized. Mayhem breaks out all over the building as everyone succumbs to rage and begins attacking one another.

Security chief Colton Snyder, aka ‘The Bull,’ is dispatched to take down Derek when Derek tries forcing his way up to see management on the top floor. Derek’s friend Ewan Niles intervenes, but is killed in the process. Derek is captured and locked in a room with Melanie.

Melanie fights with Derek over their earlier confrontation. Derek calms Melanie with a bargain that he will let her kill Irene Smythe if Melanie helps him get to the top floor.

Derek fixes a phone that enables him to call Vanda Corp’s CEO Frank. Derek reveals to Frank how Towers and Smythe Consulting concealed an oversight that adversely affected his account. Frank has a videoconference with John Towers and The Nine during which he tears up an invoice and terminates their business.

Incensed, John dispatches henchmen to kill Derek. Derek kills them and begins arming up with Melanie for their assault.

Derek and Melanie fight their way to Lester and kill him for his security keycard. Realizing that Derek plans to use Lester’s clearance to get to Kara, because Kara’s keycard will allow access to the top floor, Kara blackmails John into making her a partner in exchange for keeping the keycard from Derek. Kara gives the card to her assistant Meg and tells Meg to hide it.

Derek and Melanie have a conversation about music and begin growing closer. John and Irene put out a bounty on Derek.

Derek and Melanie confront Kara and her entourage. After killing her cronies, Derek demands the keycard from Kara. Kara relents and calls in Meg to hand over the keycard.

Meg enters and drops the destroyed keycard on Kara’s desk. Meg explains that management feared Kara would betray them, so they made a deal to promote Meg if she destroyed the card to stop Derek. Kara and Meg fight. Meg kills Kara.

John taunts Derek by urinating on Ewan’s body. Derek and Melanie have sex.

Derek and Melanie force Ray in IT to help them. Ray tricks Irene Smythe into uploading a virus that erases essential files from her hard drive. Derek ransoms a backup of Irene’s drive if she agrees to turn over her keycard.

Irene meets with Derek and Melanie. Melanie demands that Irene sign the paper absolving her mortgage debt. When Irene refuses, Melanie smashes the backup computer.

Colton returns and attacks Derek while Irene and Melanie fight. Derek kills Colton. Irene threatens that she will only give Derek the keycard if he agrees to give her Melanie. Derek turns on Melanie, knocking her unconscious and tying her to a chair.

Irene sends up Derek in the elevator with her keycard. Derek reveals that he secretly released bolts on Melanie’s chair and hid them in his mouth. Melanie escapes her restraints and attacks Irene.

Derek makes it to The Nine on the top floor. John Towers offers Derek a partnership in the firm. Derek considers the option, but refuses, sparking a physical fight between the two men. Derek eventually gets the upper hand and puts John over a railing. Derek calls out John as a liability to the company and asks the board of directors to vote if he should drop John to his death. The board unanimously agrees. Derek punches John over the railing.

Now known as ‘The Eight,’ the board of directors offers John’s job to Derek. Derek accepts long enough to sign Melanie’s paperwork and then immediately resigns. In the aftermath, the incident at Towers and Smythe accelerates ID-7 vaccine research while Derek and Melanie carry on a relationship together.

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Review:

Remember the “affluenza” argument that earned a privileged teen probation despite having killed four people while driving drunk?  Or the family who sued Judas Priest over supposedly subliminal music messages that coerced their suicidal son into firing a shotgun at his face?

Courtrooms are chock full of shameless lawyers crafting obnoxious excuses to exonerate clients, no matter how crazy those excuses might be.  Upstart attorney Derek Cho had one such case, though he didn’t have to stretch the truth much to make his unusual plea to the jury.

Deadly virus ID-7, also known as “the red eye virus” for the telltale sign of those afflicted, attacks the id, crippling inhibitions and causing stress levels to rise.  Someone infected succumbs to animalistic impulses, acting on bloodlust that can cause them to murder anyone who triggers their rage.

That’s how Derek got Nevil Reed acquitted of homicide after a massive outbreak racked up a terrible death toll.  Nevil went home thanks to his “not my fault” defense and Derek was rewarded with an office at Towers and Smythe Consulting, where his rise up the firm’s ranks changed Derek from nebbish newcomer to unscrupulous shark in a suit.

Your star only shines as bright as your most recent account at Towers and Smythe, however.  Derek has been set up as the fall guy for a disastrous oversight and he is now on his way out because of it.  Except he can’t literally leave because the office tower is on lockdown after a sudden CDC quarantine.

ID-7 has infected the building, and it will be eight hours before it is neutralized.  That’s how much time Derek now has to make his way to the top floor and plead his case to the board.  Fortunately, Derek set the legal precedent that will absolve him of the bodies he’ll drop while ascending a vertical gauntlet of “28 Days Later”-like madness.  Unfortunately, Derek’s only ally is Melanie, and he just booted her out of his office for a personal problem he simply couldn’t be bothered with.

Even though the midnight movie mania of Joe Lynch’s “Mayhem” makes it entertaining in its own right as a raucous romper stomper of crowd-pleasing corporate carnage, I can’t help but believe I might have enjoyed it more had I not been only a few days removed from screening Greg McLean and James Gunn’s similarly conceived “The Belko Experiment” (review here).  Because “The Belko Experiment,” which also operates on a premise of “anything goes” insanity turning colleagues into combatants and their office space into an arena, is bigger in terms of associated talent and public awareness, “Mayhem” is possibly doomed to be referred to in conversation as “no, that other office building anarchy movie.”  Perhaps Lynch and company can commiserate with the makers of “Delivery: The Beast Within” (review here), the superior “found footage” demonic pregnancy film that will forever be in the shadow of the more mainstream, but less memorable “Devil’s Due” (review here).

Yet while “The Belko Experiment” builds the bulk of its personality from snazzy production value and a stacked roster of better-known names for a sleekly appealing presentation, “Mayhem” has substance in its scrappiness that makes it more satisfying as a story.  Here, the setup regarding moral barrier breakdowns in the workplace fully functions as a universally relatable “what if?” of idle mind fantasy.

Creative characters capably take us there too.  Out in front is Steven Yeun of “The Walking Dead,” whose onscreen spirit is so affable, he’s easy to rally behind even as an apologetic assh*le, never mind how questionable his outrageous actions become.  Supporting players including Caroline Chikezie and Dallas Roberts all have their turn to match Yeun with equal aplomb alternating between simmering coworker resentment and totally teeth-baring terror.

Not that “Mayhem” is overly concerned with satirically savaging corporate politics through subtext.  The movie would be first to admit its main attraction is touted in the title.  “Mayhem” invests most of its metaphoric money in violent stocks, bloody bonds, and a mutual fund of muah-ha-ha black humor.  If it is balls-to-the-wall brutality you want, “Mayhem” has you covered.

Its rawer indie edge doesn’t come without consequences.  At a SXSW screening, director Joe Lynch accurately joked that an apt alternate title might be “F*ck You: The Movie” considering overflowing obscenities in the dialogue.  Indeed, there is a coarseness to the movie’s attitude that can come off as crude.  And on occasions when the frenzied fun and vicious violence is outscored by juvenile jocularity, a once sharp edge dulls.

Overlook that better bits bookend a midsection sagging from redundant action and “Mayhem” still thrills.  It can be a coin flip as to which is the preferable of the two, but one thing is for certain, don’t make “Mayhem” a double feature with “The Belko Experiment,” as whichever comes second will likely lose a few points from the first.

Review Score:  70

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