Director – Sean Patrick O’Reilly, Based on the Comic Book Corrective Measures (2008-10) Created by Grant Chastain & Fran Moyano, Producer – Michelle O’Reilly, Photography – Stirling Bancroft, Music – George Streicher, Visual Effects Supervisor – Ryan Curtis, Visual Effects – Ghost VFX (Supervisor – Eric Gambini), Nvision (Supervisor – Sathisha Py) & Tribal Imaging (Supervisor – James Frislev), Special Effects Supervisor – Kyle Moore, Makeup Effects – MastersFX, Production Design – Richard Simpson. Production Company – Arcana Studio/The Exchange.
Cast
Michael Rooker (Overseer Walton Devlin), Brennan Mejia (Diego Diaz), Bruce Willis (Julius Lobe/The Lobe), Tom Cavanagh (Gordon Tweedy/The Conductor), Dan Payne (Walter Locke/Payback), Celia Aloma (Felicia Johnson), Kevin Zegers (Captain Jason Brody), Haley Sayles (Dr Isabella Josephs), Kat Ruston (Officer Liz Morales), John DeSantis (Darius), Matthew Kevin Anderson (Officer Danny Brees), Daniel Cudmore (Diamond Jim), Jasmine Bala (Sarah Michaels), Joe Perkins (Glenn Barry), Doug Bradley (Senator Zachariah)
Plot
Following The Pulse, genetic mutations have increased all around the world, creating super-powered people. Walter Locke aka Payback, a vigilante who has been killing other super-villains in revenge for the death of his family, is captured. He is sentenced to San Tiburon prison for super-villains under Warden Walton Devlin where the inmates’ powers are negated with the use of the nullifier leg bracelet. Also transferred is the young Diego Diaz, who is an empath. As the legendary villain The Lobe is taken to the hospital wing, Diego steps in to stop Payback killing him. This earns him the respect of The Lobe and the other inmates. As Devlin prepares for his retirement, Diego becomes wound into complex plans that The Lobe is making.
Bruce Willis has a sterling reputation as an actor since the 1980s, breaking out with the tv series Moonlighting (1985-9) and his cinematic career taking off in a big way with his third film Die Hard (1988), followed by a long line of action and dramatic roles throughout the 1990s to the 2010s. The Bruce Willis of the 2020s is another whole proposition. From about 2020, Bruce started to appear in a series of films that have to be considered universally terrible. These are mostly low-budget action films, although there are a handful of genre vehicles among these such as Breach (2020), Apex (2021), Cosmic Sin (2021) and Assassin (2023).
In 2022, it was revealed that Willis was suffering from dementia, in particular from aphasia that left him with difficult with speech and comprehension. Willis, or presumably those close to him, signed up for a series of films where he would make $1-2 million per appearance usually for only a few minutes screen time in a supporting role that would be billed as the lead. Presumably this was accumulating money either for hospital bills or else creating an inheritance for his family in the time he had left. In 2023, it was announced that he was retiring from acting because his mental faculties had deteriorated too badly to continue.
Corrective Measures was the first live-action film from Sean Patrick O’Reilly, a Canadian comic-book artist who manages the British Columbia-based Arcana Studios. O’Reilly emerged with the animated films Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom (2016), Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom (2017) and Howard Lovecraft and the Kingdom of Madness (2018) based on his own graphic novels, and has also directed the animated Pixies (2015), Legend of Hallowaiian (2018), The Steam Engines of Oz (2018), Go Fish (2019), Pandas vs Aliens (2021) and Heroes of the Golden Mask (2023). Corrective Measures is adapted from a 2008 graphic novel that was produced by Arcana.
Bruce Willis as the super-villain The Lobe
The Superhero Film has inundated movie screens throughout the 2010s and 20s, although Corrective Measures is more a Super-Villain film. The problem for any original, non-DC or Marvel comic-book based entry to come out amid the glut of superhero films is the question of what it has to offer that all the big-budgeted entries do not. There have been a lot of wannabes that have failed on this ground. Corrective Measures offers the idea of a Prison for super-villains, although this is no different really from Arkham Asylum in the Batman mythos and films such as Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014). The character of Payback, who looks to shape up to be the hero at the outset, seems to have been based on The Punisher.
It is a premise that has potential and Corrective Measures is not an uninteresting film. The main problem is that after the initial set-up the plot circles around without much to do. There is no dramatic momentum to the story – most of it just consists of observing the various characters and things happening. There is no clear antagonist, just naively innocent Brennan Mejia being wound into schemes around the prison where the nature of what is going on doesn’t get to be apparent until the end of the film.
I didn’t much buy Michael Rooker as the warden – his attitude seems far too casual for a prison warden – but this does lead to a good end sting in the tale. On the other hand, there is a fine performance from Tom Cavanagh who rises to take charge of what he is given and create something memorable. There is also a solid and serious performance from Celia Aloma as Rooker’s deputy.
And then there is the Bruce Willis factor. Certainly, Corrective Measures is one of the more watchable among the last films that Willis appeared in. On the other hand, Willis is not at his best, even though he is playing the character who is meant to be the genius masterminding everything. The script helps in this regard but you get the clear sense that Willis is not much connecting with the lines he is meant to be saying, or else that they often ended up using outtakes or reaction shots. In a number of scenes, you simply see characters talking to him through a doorway where you get the impression that his voice was dubbed over.
