3 out of 5

Director: Gareth Evans

After a misleading cold opening, ‘Footsteps’ (or ‘Vengenance Day’) takes a page from Miike’s ‘Dead or Alive’ and cuts to a frenetic, violent, rapid-fire melange of images and music that rattles your brain into thinking that you’re in store for something pretty brutal before dipping into a rather quiet, slow, and contemplative middle section.  While the film does get up to bloody business toward the end, it’s either limited by budget or due to a stylistic decision (with ‘The Raid’ in hindsight, probably more the former…), and thus director Gareth Evans must use workarounds with editing and sound to suggest brutality – the cost-cutting is obvious, but matches the overall grainy presentation and remains effective within the context of the film’s style.  This is, essentially, a march through depression, as Andrew gets dumped, loses his job, feels aimless… until his bottled-up anger is given direction by a small gaggle of snuff-film profiteers.  ‘Footsteps’ avoids too much over-complication by not trying to show or explain the snuff operation too much – it’s run out of an oddly friendly, surreal office environment, and thus all of the unnamed employees and their various vaguely suggested roles can be accepted as the gears that grind Andrew through his emotional valley.  I have no idea how this director morphed into Merantau and The Raid, because this is very different here – excellent editing to juxtapose sound and vision, and an oblique plotting sense that lets the viewer connect many details on their own.  The walking tracking shots and grisly shaky-cam are perhaps maintained… but maybe Evans only had one art film in him.  Overall, the film remains a bit too oblique in its construction to really strike home, and there are a couple beats that just don’t fit the vibe, but by the same token, it is much more than the sum of its parts, and absolutely rewarding if viewed to completion.