Citizen Vigilante (2026) - A Hero or A Monster - REVIEW

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First lets get something right out of the gate, Citizen Vigilante deals with racist ideas, anti immigrant anger and acts of violence that I do not support. Still, a movie can be discussed as a movie without agreeing with the people or ideas inside it, we have all kind of war, crime and all kind of bad things on movies, its just entertainment and some of them are rated like NC-17 for adults only, but I dont understand why the fuck this was not considering everything that is in it. This review is about whether the story works, whether the characters are convincing and whether the movie is entertaining, while also recognizing that the idea behind certain things on the movie are not ...hhmmm, this movie is fucked up.

Now about the movie, Citizen Vigilante works best when Sanders looks dangerous, but the movie keeps getting in its own way by treating his violence like is some kid of proof he is the only serious killer in the room. The opening attack on a mother after she shops with her son feels like its there to make you angry before you can process anything else and that ugly kill gives you a clear idea of why people start praising a vigilante once police and courts look useless, here we get into a kind of Dare Devil territory, but Sanders is way worst. The movie never really connects Sanders to those victims though, he shows up already convinced everyone around him is weak, stupid or corrupt, so his anger never feels like it grew out of pain, more like he was waiting for permission to hurt people. He latter on visits the injured young woman and this make things worse, she tells him she wants the men who attacked her to spend their lives in prison, a fair and logical answer but Sanders keeps pushing until revenge sounds like the only option, he totally skips the legal system like it never existed or should exist. I get the point, a victim losing faith in the system but Sanders is not really listening, he is using her pain to back up a decision he already made in the fist place when he put two plus two. That makes him more interesting as a dangerous man, but the movie keeps presenting the same behavior as confidence and strength, wanting for the audience to fear him while rooting for him, the anti hero, to make things more clear like The Punisher and those two things never sit right together as the violence progress, this type of character start to fall into some questionable decisions.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35309713/
• Platform: PRIME VIDEO

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The biggest issue is Sanders has no real limit and the movie does not seem bothered by that. He helps two women at a bar by switching drugged drinks back onto the guys who spiked them, stops the crime, warns the women and leaves without killing anyone, so we know he can act without making an execution out of everything. But then he sees teenagers from a bus hurting another kid and tases them before stomping on them until bones break and sure they had it coming, but Sanders goes way past stopping them, and this goes way beyond fear, this goes into terror and only extreme violence solve problems, there is no process anymore and just punishment without questions ask. It gets worse when Sanders kidnaps the judge who kept the six attackers out of prison. Sanders impersonates a police officer, drugs and kidnaps Judge Reinhold, the judge who gave six teenage boys no prison time after they sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl. The judge’s explanation was that society had failed to integrate the boys, so they were also victims of the system, see an on going topic here? , not only Sanders is fucked up. During the drive, he lectures the judge about people blindly following rules, then very aware of whats goint to happen next enters the wrong lane and forces an innocent driver off the road. The car flips and explodes, and Sanders casually says the driver is probably dead, treating an innocent man’s death as proof of his argument. That scene wrecks any idea he is protecting innocent people, turning a total stranger into a lesson and talking like that death was worth using, if this guy head was not rotten already. This could have been the moment a vigilante crossing the line actually means something, instead it plays like one more punishment, this are the type of scenes when either someone from the outside makes the call and warn him how far he has gone. Its like he alwasy think his opinion gives him the right to decide who lives, not losing control in some terrible moment, and sadly that is not justice with a rough method, that is a guy building excuses for murder.

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I think the movie argument of a "vigilante" becomes weak by making Sanders such an obvious hypocrite, as he treats laws like they only matter when they support his finance or his version of punishment. At his property office he complains about tenants late on rent and demands evictions, even though he owns thousands of units and makes a fortune off them, then gets angry when told local rules protect residents, but then you got things like his own status in the country is not properly registered and officials are asking about his companies and taxes, which Sanders always find a way skip with ease some how and figures lawyers will handle it. Its probably the worts contradiction in the movie or at least the most clear one that expose the character as someone who only hates lawlessness when it does not benefit his agenda but the movie just keeps moving during this moments like it doesnt apply to him. I could understand how many might not like the system but if you dont then dont be a part of it, meaning you cant play the game if you are not going to follow the rules. There is this other weird brothel scene that says a lot about Sanders, he pays for sex in a building he owns, notices mold and starts lecturing the woman about ventilation, caring about a wall in that moment, when in other occasions he lets repairs sit unfinished as long as the building does not fall down, even when they are necessary, so I wonder if for him been aware sometimes is just enough and the moment to act is when things get very ugly and why he is that extremist under certain occasions?. For the most part of me it shows exactly how he treats people, problems to fix, payments to collect and anything else that doesnt fit his speech or agenda, everything around him is always so convinient. Armie Hammer plays him with such a flat voice that the guy barely shows been anger, sad or excited, which fits the man who removed all doubt from his own thinking, fits very well the character.

There are scenes that should make Sanders look terrifying, but the editing makes it hard to take seriously, like when Interpol chief Henry leads a group of armed officers into the building where Sanders is hiding behind a metal wall with gun holes cut into it. Sanders warns them, but they keep moving forward and he shoots them down one after another, this should be the point where any sympathy left for Sanders disappears. These are not corrupt cops or people connected to the crimes he has been punishing. They are officers trying to arrest a killer and he murders them for doing their job. Instead of letting that sink in, the movie fills the scene with strange music, too much blood, slow motion and repeated shots. The scene becomes confusing instead of shocking, even the explosion does not seem to match the damage shown afterward, which makes the editing feel sloppy. Henry survives with severe burns but there is no real conflict between them, it just shows Sanders can set a trap and everyone chasing him will act foolish even cartoonish. The rest of the movie has that same pacing problem, jumping between recorded messages, social media praise, police movement, property business, victims and killings without making much sense, killing just because he can and he wants. Repeated shots of Sanders handling guns, working out and walking feel like filler, and the ugly green and yellow color grading makes locations look inconsistent from once scene to the other, for me its just a confusing way of directing a movie that makes things a bit harder to follow.

The ending confirms my main problem with Citizen Vigilante, Sanders is clearly a monster by now but the movie still wants his message to land as important. The movie reaches its worst point when Sanders goes after the family of one of the six boys involved in the assault case. This is the same case connected to the judge he kidnapped earlier. Sanders takes the family hostage, forces their son to call the other attackers, and kills them when they arrive. He then kills the parents and sister too, blaming them for defending the son, for the sister’s post attacking the victim, and for the values expressed by the fathe, by this point he is no longer punishing only the people who committed the assault, he has decided that anyone who supported them or said something he dislikes also deserves to die. The case already went through court but Sanders now acts as judge and executioner, with no limit on how far he can spread the blame, like he is the one who is going to save justice. Instead the final call with Henry drifts into speeches about Islamist extremists, political enemies on the left and defending Europe, while the victim and her father watch the attackers turn up dead and Sanders keeps repeating that others should act like him, the moment when I thought "they really thought it was a good idea to put this into a movie??". The movie seems proud of the result even after showing him kill innocent cops, leave a random driver presumed dead and execute a family that never got a chance to answer for anything. I get the anger behind a story about violent criminals walking free, but Sanders does not fix that system, he just replaces the law with his own anger and calls every murder necessary, turning into the exact threat he claims to fight, making his character not in control but in total domination in a more dictatorship style, still talking like a savior, just absurd. Now here is where I rate the movie for how absurd it is in and violent, yes its stupid at times too, part of it I like, part of it I hated, it falls more into a 7/10 although its not a worthless movie you cant watch. If you are into gore, violence and a movie that dares to go against the classic action movie vigilante mold, and also know how to separate the controversy and drama so you dont get worked, yeah I know to many IF, then I would say go ahead and watch it.

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Rating: 70/100