REVIEW: Mayhem

Corporate life is a bitch. Anyone who's lived it can probably tell dozens of infuriating stories about the lack of humanity at play there. 

During my time in it, I'm not sure I ever had the thought "if only I had a nail gun", but Joe Lynch has introduced that scenario for us. God bless him.

"Mayhem" is savage social commentary, a hyper energetic blast through a painfully irritating hell hole of a company.

Derek (Steve Yeun) is having a really bad day in his bougie law firm job. He's been thrown under the bus for someone else's mistake, and is subsequently fired. 

When a nasty virus causing lowered inhibitions and bouquets of rage presents itself, well, you can imagine where it goes from there.

Yeun is no stranger to films that take aim at corporate America, after his terrific turn in Sorry To Bother You, and he shines brighter here. He always brings an earnestness to his acting, and it's really saying something that he's able to maintain that, even while committing horrible acts of violence. 

Yeun's costar is the incredible Samara Weaving, who devours every scene she's in, with a deliciously disturbing glee. Her chemistry with Yeun as a scene partner is off the charts.

Lynch's directing is interesting. Having just watched his Suitable Flesh before this, he demonstrates a love for different directorial styles, and here he opts for a more roller coaster vibe, which suits the film as an appropriate contrast to the dullard corporate life the film opens on. Think Office Space meets Oldboy.

If I had a complaint about the film, I wished it was longer. There is an early scene in which Yeun and Weaving are live streaming what utter hell they work in, now turned to chaos, that hit such heights, I could have watched an entire movie of just that live stream.

The villainous CEO (Steven Brand) and ominous HR flunkie (Dallas Roberts) also breathe devious life into their characters. 

Brand's ability to project both a tyrannical intensity and yet a pile of douchey overcompensation really shows his strengths as an actor. His backup course of action in the final act is so God damn corporate mentality, it made me sick, and I love the film for it.

I really want to believe Lynch and screenwriter Matias Caruso are living casualties of the corporate world, and this entire thing is a legitimate "fuck you" from those who lived to tell the tale. Whether they are or not, the message stays the same.

Mayhem is fun, violent, brilliant satire, and above all else, appropriately titled.