Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn) loses his mechanic job and starts dealing drugs to provide for his wife (Jennifer Carpenter) and their unborn daughter, “Koala”. Bradley is sent to prison after his moral code leads to his arrest, at which point The Placid Man (Udo Kier) informs him that if he does not get himself transferred to RedLeaf, a separate maximum security prison, and kill a man in Cell Block 99, his unborn daughter will be mutilated prior to her birth.

That’s all the plot you’re getting, because I’m not a fan of playing that game where the reviewer just gives you a Wikipedia summary. Needless to say, things quickly get bloody and chaotic.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 speaks the same language as Bone Tomahawk. This is because Zahler is an auteur; and like all auteurs, he leaves a very discernible fingerprint on each film he does. To that end, whether or not you liked Bone Tomahawk may be a good indicator of what you will think of this film.

Apart from its spectacularly executed fight scenes (choreographed by Drew Leary), the characters in Brawl in Cell Block 99 are its biggest strength. Behind the cracking bones and crushed skulls, they are real people who push the story forward emotionally as much, if not more than, they push it forward with physical spectacles.

Vaughn, Carpenter, and Don Johnson all give career best performances here; but even the supporting cast excels. I want to give a quick shout out to Clark Johnson (who plays Detective Watkins) and Marc Blucas (who plays Gil) for stellar delivery of Zahler’s dialogue. From what I understand, this film was originally developed as a vehicle for pro wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Ghosts of this can be felt in the writing: Bradley’s southern drawl. His dialogue referencing “finishers”. His absence of hair. As much as The Texas Rattlesnake has permanent real estate in my heart, I can only see Vince Vaughan as Bradley. While I’m sure Austin would’ve tackled the physicality of the character with great gusto, the role demands a level of complexity in craft that I’m not sure he would’ve been capable of delivering.