There are great thrillers out there, but only a handful of thrills really make you clutch your breath in terror or leave you shaken to your core. Those kinds of engrossing thrillers are the specialty of director Jeremy Saulnier. With his 2013 film Blue Ruin, it was clear a new legend had arrived in this strain of cinema. His mastery of crackling thrillers full of exciting twists and punches that feel really tactile was reaffirmed with his 2024 Aaron Pierre-starring feature Rebel Ridge. Even Saulnier’s divisive 2018 movie Hold the Dark has its fair share of fans thanks to its extremely distinctive aesthetic.
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In his esteemed career, though, Green Room remains Saulnier’s greatest accomplishment as a filmmaker. Released in April 2016 (a full year after its premiere at 2015’s Cannes Film Festival), Green Room decked movie theaters in all kinds of gruesome carnage and a startlingly against-type performance from none other than Patrick Stewart. Green Room isn’t easy viewing thanks to its barrage of nasty violence and severed limbs, but it is a divine, gnarly thriller cinema anchored by tremendous performances and extraordinarily confident filmmaking.
What Is Green Room About?
The punk band The Ain’t Rights, like any scrappy band trying to make a living, has played some odd venues. However, this group, which includes bassist Pat (Anton Yelchin), guitarist Sam (Alia Shawkat), drummer Rebecca (Joe Cole), and singer Tiger (Callum Turner), have never played at quite a place like this skeezy bar on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. This bar belongs to a bunch of neo-Nazis who want The Ain’t Rights to play as an opening act for an actual white supremacist band named Cowcatcher. The leader of these Nazis is none other than the disturbingly in-control Darcy (Stewart).
Immediately, Green Room’s script (also penned by Saulnier) hits the ground running with a great good vs. evil dynamic. Punk rock has often been used to challenge the status quo and white supremacy. Musicians in this field are a natural adversary for a gaggle of neo-Nazis. Centering the story on these specific antagonists also gives Green Room foes that immediately register as “evil” when they walk on screen. No need for endless exposition to justify the brutality of Darcy and company, all the swastika’s everywhere vividly convey why audiences should be terrified of these people.
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Once The Ain’t Rights members see a dead body on the compound, Darcy orders that all the musicians be killed. This is when the grisliest and most gripping parts of Green Room come to the forefront. Machetes and boxcutters become go-to weapons as the Nazis enact carnage on these punk rockers that results in lots of blood and nearly severed arms. The gruesome mayhem will make you recoil in your seat while the innately finite nature of this neo-Nazi compound just accentuates the terror Pat and company are experiencing. They’re trapped in a tight space with minimal places to hide. Every creeping footstep or noise takes on extra dimensions of unnerving importance in such a backdrop.
Patrick Stewart and Anton Yelchin Excel in Green Room
Patrick Stewart has spent his career playing reassuring authority figures like Professor Xavier in X-Men or Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek. In these roles, Stewart exudes a commanding aura, making it clear why people would follow him into any scenario while also conveying a comforting enough presence to make it equally clear why folks would look to him for emotional support. Green Room masterfully twists and distorts that pop culture persona for Stewart’s work as Darcy. Here, he’s also a leader folks turn to for guidance. Unfortunately, he’s the sadistic leader of neo-Nazis who uses his authority to spread white supremacy and violent chaos.
In this role, Stewart effortlessly conveys a chilling screen presence rather than Picard or Xavier’s inviting auras. It’s a performance so good that it doesn’t even register as a subversion of Stewart’s filmography while it transpires on screen. Stewart just fully makes Darcy a believable standalone figure in Green Room‘s world. Meanwhile, occupying the film’s central role is Anton Yelchin in one of his last acting credits before his tragic passing in June 2016. Yelchin’s beloved soft-spoken acting style is a fantastic contrast both to The Ain’t Rights music and the Neo-nazi carnage occurring around him.
Yelchin provides a perfect lynchpin to center Green Room around. He’s also just one of many remarkable performances contained within Saulnier’s third feature-length film, with Imogen Poots, Shawkat and, of course, Stewart especially excelling in the supporting cast. Don’t open the door to Green Room if you’re squeamish about blood or even just the sound of body parts getting dismembered. For the bolder cinematic viewers out there, though, Green Room is a must-watch display of Jeremy Saulnier’s filmmaking talents. Plus, it’ll ensure you can never look at Patrick Stewart the same ever again.
Green Room is now streaming on Prime Video.
