MANILA, Philippines - Television’s True Blood star Ryan Kwanten topbills the action movie Blunt Force Trauma with Freida Pinto and Mickey Rourke in a story following John (Kwanten), an underground gunslinger looking for his ultimate duel with legendary Zorringer (Rourke) along with Colt (Pinto) who is seeking revenge for the death of her brother.
Directed by Ken Sanzel, also a renowned scriptwriter for his work in the action-packed The Replacement Killers starring Chow Yun Fat, Blunt Force Trauma brings the characters underground in a deadly game of gunfight where the participants are continuously shot wearing bulletproof vests and that the only one and last one standing is declared winner.
From his recent interviews, Kwanten further explains the nature of Blunt Force Trauma. “For me, it’s a modern-day representation of one those existentialist road trip movies and it was such a nice departure to play a very iconic ’70s style man. It really appealed because I feel like the modern-day man has sort of been sugarcoated a little too much. He has lost a little of his robustness, I guess we could say. Getting back to the story of it all, my character John is a gun slinger on a journey to track down the greatest gun slinger of all time — Zorringer — and on the way to the meeting, he runs into Colt, and they forge this bond.
It was the relationship between John and Colt that really sold me on the project. They’re characters that you just don’t see anymore whether it’s in mainstream or indie films. I was really impressed by the writing — and the directing.”
Sanzel, whose previous occupation is a cop before turning into a filmmaker, takes his knowledge and experience as centric in the movie’s theme, where Blunt Force Trauma treads on a fictional sport in which bullets can kill without even penetrating the skin. The game is played by two gunfighters who enter an arena with their bulletproof vests and shoots each other at the torso and continues to be a game of survival, whoever can no longer stand in their place loses.
Now exclusively showing at Ayala Malls Cinemas, Blunt Force Trauma is from OctoArts Films International.