John Doe: Vigilante
John Doe: Vigilante (also known as John Doe) is a 2014 Australian crime thriller, directed by Kelly Dolen. The story is written by Kelly Dolen and Stephen M.Coates. The screenplay was written by Stephen M.Coates. The film stars Daniel Lissing, Jamie Bamber, Lachy Hulme and Ditch Davey.
| John Doe: Vigilante | |
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 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Kelly Dolen |
| Screenplay by | Stephen M. Coates |
| Story by |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | David Hirschfelder |
| Cinematography | David Parker |
| Edited by | James Cole |
Production company |
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Release date |
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Running time | 93 Minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
Plot
John Doe (Jamie Bamber) is an ordinary man who decides to take the law into his own hands after the unsolved murder of his wife and daughter. John Doe then exacts his justice by killing one criminal at a time, filming the process and sending it to the media. However, the mainstream media edits the films, showing only the "killing process" but not the reason. John Doe then gives the films to a smaller media outfit who then shows the entire films on the internet. Some sections of the public who support what he does.
A movement supporting John Doe's actions ("Speak for the Dead") is started and begin to publicize John Doe's "victims" - serial pimps, rapists, and paedophiles - criminals who were arrested, sentenced and upon their release, and reoffend.
An incident occurs at a night club where two bouncers at a bar eject and assault a teenage boy. The boy dies as a result of his injuries. John Doe kills one of the bouncers with a home-made cyanide patch. This inspires other copycat vigilantes. Three teenage boys then decide to go after the other bouncer, but goes awry when the bouncer kills all three. This incident results in the movement becoming more organised and the next scene shows a larger group of people wearing masks and attacking the bouncer with baseball bats.
One of the three teenage boys was a patient of John Doe. The question arises whether John Doe had "influenced" the boys to carry out the actions on his behalf.
The story ends with John Doe filming what he did with Adam, the criminal who killed his wife and nine-year-old daughter. The whole incident is broadcast live, with John Doe removing his mask. He gives Adam an opportunity to convince him why John Doe should not kill him.
Cast
- Jamie Bamber as John Doe / Mr Jones.
- Daniel Lissing as Jake
- Lachy Hulme as Ken Rutherford, an investigative journalist whom John Doe requested to meet a day before the jury makes its decision.
- Ditch Davey as Detective Clint James
- Sam Parsonson as Murray Wills
- Paul O'Brien as Officer J.Callahan
- Chloe Guymer as Chloe
- Louise Crawford as Leah
- Ben Schumann as Boy
- Fletcher Humphrys as Henry Junig
- Brooke Ryan as Mary
- Gary Abrahams as Sam
Reception
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics, receiving a rating of 40% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 3.8/10 based on 5 reviews.[1]
References
- "Rotten Tomatoes profile". Retrieved April 21, 2015.