Riot (2015) poster
2015 · action · heist

Riot

Directed by John Lyde1h 28m2015
ElsewhereIMDb5.14k
  • sombre
  • kinetic
  • intense
  • cold
Movie DNA

Sombre, breathless, measured action / heist, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Copper Jack Stone purposefully orchestrates a bank robbery in order to be thrown into prison with the notorious Russian kingpin Balam. Balam is more than just a mob criminal; he's a very cunning and dangerous lord who controls the police force from behind bars. Balam lives in prison as a cover for his real power, which is King of the city. His cell is a lavish private room built specifically for him, inaccessible to most in the depths of the prison structure. Even the warden fears venturing into his area of the prison. However, even surrounded by his loyal henchmen and guards in his sectioned off fortress, Balam doesn't know Jack is coming for him to avenge his family, who Balam murdered in cold blood. Balam is tough... but Jack is tougher.

Our read · Riot (2015) reads as a sombre, breathless, grounded action · heist entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Riot

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a brutal prison revenge action movie with MMA-style fights and tough guys.

ends triumphantyou’ll be fine aftergrabs you earlygrips by minute 5attention 2/5breezes by
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violence

Skip it tonightSkip if graphic prison fights or simple revenge stories feel empty tonight.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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