Review: Damaged – “a solid enough thriller.”

Directed by Terry McDonough
Starring Samuel L Jackson, Gianni Capaldi, Vincent Cassel, Laura Haddock, John Hannah, Kate Dickie

Dan Lawson (Samuel L Jackson) is a detective in Chicago, seemingly pretty burned out by too many years on the job, supporting himself by hitting the bottle (even on duty or when driving). Arriving at yet another murder scene, he’s gruffly told by a fellow detective that he should have quit the game years ago, and that even his long-term partner, Walter Bravo (France’s favourite bad-boy, Vincent Cassel) had the sense to quit and seek out a new life. Both he and his former partner had failed to crack a series of gruesome, possibly ritualistic murders in Chicago, and when a young woman is murdered in Edinburgh in very similar-looking circumstances, he’s sent over to liaise with the Scottish police on the case.

It’s not a bad premise – the fish out of water, taken from his normal beat in the Windy City and dropped into genteel Edinburgh, and working with a police force that operates differently from his (at one point as they discuss dangerous religious sects, one of the Scottish officers points out they don’t really have that many over here). And it is interesting to see a fairly bloody murder mystery (the film spares us the worst of the kills, but the dismembered, visceral aftermath of the crime scene is pretty gruesome, almost veering into horror film territory) like this set in a UK city instead of the US. It’s also fun to see a major Hollywood star like Jackson in that Edinburgh setting, and the city, especially parts of the historic Old Town, add to the visual flair and atmosphere.

I did enjoy Damaged, but have to say, while it is a solid crime thriller with interesting Scottish locations and a great cast, I kept feeling that with a bit more polish it could have been more than just solid – it felt like there was a much stronger film in there that they just couldn’t pull out all the way. I was a bit worried early on when it used the burn-out homicide cop on the bottle cliché (an overused device in detective fiction, I think), and each of the detectives – Jackson’s Dan, Gianni Capaldi’s Scottish detective Boyd, and his now retired partner turned security consultant, Walter (Cassel) has some tragic backstory that has kinked their characters. And while that can add to drama and character, like the drinking it feels like too much a very well-worn trope in the genre, and using it for each of the detectives overdoes it badly.

All that said, this is indeed a solid enough thriller, with plenty of red herrings and unlikeable possible suspects (although I don’t think it is as clever as it thinks it is in trying to misdirect the viewer), with a few nice ideas in there. And of course there’s that cast – I mean you have Jackson and Vincent Cassel (always great), not to mention John Hannah (who appeared to be enjoying playing a total bastard of a character). I enjoyed seeing some well-known Scottish faces making appearances, such as Kate Dickie and Elaine C Smith. At the same time, the locations, especially Edinburgh (most notably the Old Town at night) are just perfect for this kind of flick.

Damaged is available on Prime from September 6th.