Written by Luke Barnes
Body Brokers is a crime thriller film directed by John Swab. The plot revolves around the for profit drug rehabilitation system in the United States, and the various predatory tricks and cons people within the industry are using to stay rich.
This film serves to do for the drug rehabilitation system what The Big Short did for the stock market. Providing us the audience with an in-depth, albeit it fictionalised, view into the world of body brokers, characters who prey off junkies going in and out of treatment centres to make their money through various contracts.
Honestly, the fact that this is a thing in the real world is terrifying, and it’s the same kind of terror that you had when you realised that I Care A Lot also has a lot of grounding in reality. Our systems are deeply flawed.
I thought the performances were all very good here, Frank Grillo was the stand out, but he was supported nicely by Michael Kenneth Williams and Jessica Rothe, who is definitely the scene stealer of the film. My one complaint on this front would be that the main protagonist Utah (Jack Kilmer), is fairly bland and predictable
Overall, this film is harrowing, and it opens your eyes to just how easily corrupted our systems are- filling you with even more existential dread and terror of the world around you.
Pros.
The premise
Exposing the injustices and the wrongs of the drug rehabilitation world
Making a few strong points
Rothe, Williams and Grillo
Cons.
Kilmer
The ending is manically depressing
4/5
Another Millennial Reviewer 