TIFF Report: Pusher III, I'm The Angel of Death Review

Shot immediately after Pusher II and released less than a year behind the sophomore film of the trilogy Pusher III - aka I'm The Angel of Death - has some very, very large shoes to fill. That it fails to completely do so in no way implies that this is a poor film - by any other standard it is stellar - but it definitely marks a slight dip from the first two films, one made more evident by viewing it immediately after the second film as it has been programmed here. Pusher III is centered on Milo, the Serbian drug lord who supplied Frank in the first film and made a brief appearance in part two, and is very definitely NOT for those who had difficulty with the use of hand tools in Oldboy. The finale of this one may lack some of the emotional punch of the first two but it's certainly not shy on graphic and shocking imagery ...

While the first film spread over a week and the second over what appeared to be months this final installment is packed into a single day of Milo's life. A single very packed, very conflicted day. A long time drug abuser Milo is attempting to go on the wagon and hitting multiple NA meetings around the city to help himself quit, something of an irony for a major drug lord. He is also feeling the squeeze from a group of younger, more aggressive Turkish drug dealers and somehow manages to get himself caught up in a Polish flesh trading ring. To top it off it is also his very spoiled daughter's twenty fifth birthday and he has promised to cater her birthday party himself, which means cooking for fifty people while also running his business. And the cooking's not going so well as his entire gang - struck down by food poisoning - can attest.

The most purely genre film of the lot Pusher III seems intent to entertain more than illuminate. The character based work is still there, but it is not given the same time or care as in the first two and this is where the film suffers. The characters are still engaging and the thing still crackles and pops but after the rich layers of complexity in the first two installments and the possibilities offered by this character Refn seems largely content to play turnabout with Milo - putting him in a strikingly similar situation to what Milo himself put Frank through in the first film - and leave it at that.

The performances are uniformly strong once again and it is once again fascinating to see Refn put further layers onto bit players from the other films as they turn up here in large roles. Trhough the course of the trilogy Refn has created a remarkable, self contained world where all of the characters live and interact and it gives you the chance to see them all from different angles, in different lights and it makes the entire experience more rewarding. So, while Pusher III may be the weakest of the lot it is still a remarkable film and one well worth seeing. Evidently an off day from Refn is still ten times better than what most directors manage. Catch these films while you can because God only knows when they might see an English subtitled release ...