One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This sad and bittersweet tale of a Father and his two Sons - one innocent, the other a "hellion" - has its share of emotional moments but is too intense in parts and dramatic and depressing. Cinematically - the acting, the directing, the editing, etc. - is all well done, and the story really has the viewer rooting that everything works out in the end. But a plot twist steers it into a disappointing conclusion. This is not a bad movie, just not a cheerful one. The worst part of this decent movie is that the part is not much a stretch for actor Aaron Paul. I was looking forward to seeing Paul play something other than a substance abusing, irresponsible, angry yet tearful Jesse Pinkman character of "Breaking Bad", but in this movie he plays a substance abusing, irresponsible, angry yet tearful Hollis Wilson - Paul with a heavy beard and slight southern drawl.

Coming of age films are a dime a dozen, and what it really comes down to is the strength of the young actor or actress. The way it usually works out is that the better they are, the better the film is, and when it comes to Hellion, casting was dead on, but there was also something else that made this one special. After losing his mother, Jacob Wilson (Josh Wiggins) started acting out. Maybe his fathers transformation into a full blown alcoholic had something to do with it, or maybe it's the fact that he's left to be the adult and take care of his little brother that's the problem, but whatever the case it gets a whole lot worse. After stupid teenaged behavior causes his younger brother to be taken away and placed with his aunt, Jacob has to become the adult and convince his father to clean up in order to bring his little brother home, a herculean task, when you consider the fact that Jacob himself is still a wreck. The young star of the film, newcomer Josh Wiggins is absolutely terrific, outshining multiple award winning actors and actresses in this film, but he's not the only difference here. Hellion takes on the dark southern poverty stricken surreal feeling of other similar films that have become extremely popular in recent years. Similar to Winter's Bone, Joe, and Mud, there is an aspect to this film that is methodical and real. It's almost like you aren't watching a movie, you're just seeing real life unfold in front of your eyes. This combined with an extraordinary young talent made this extremely enjoyable to watch. Everything was very raw, emotional, and just real, a credit to both the writer, director, and cast involved in Hellion. This style is fairly new in cinema and has really defined the 2010s era, to see it combined with something that was so relate-able made for a very special film.

Hellion also known as Retribution is a slight tale from writer and director Kat Candler which has slow, unrushed placing.The film chronicles a family on the edge of destruction in rural Southeast Texas. Jacob Wilson (Josh Wiggins) likes heavy metal and loves motocross biking. He and his mates also get into vandalism and arson. Unfortunately for them, for every wrong move they make the police are immediately on to them.His father Hollis (Aaron Paul) is also broken. He his grieving over the loss of his wife, drinks too much and not spending enough time to look after his two children, their house is squalid. Hollis was a one time local baseball star. His actions also brings him to the attention of the police. The behaviour of both puts the younger son Wes at risk and into the hands of the child protection services who have him fostered out to his aunt Pam (Juliette Lewis.)Things take a turn for the worse when Jacob and his gang go to the aunt's house to visit Wes.The film has naturalistic performances from the child actors which is the big plus for the film. Everything is low key, fatalistic even. The only thing sunny here is the weather. The pacing is uneven as the film is a slow burner. There is too much contrivances, the police seem to be always there when there is trouble which is hard to swallow.There is irony to see Lewis being terrorised at the end of the movie from a gang of kids, after all she did her share of terrorising twenty years ago in films like Natural Born Killers.

HELLION (2014) ** 1/2 Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Dalton Sutton, Camron Owens, Dylan Cole, Jonny Mars. Well-acted domestic drama about a family fumbling through their grief over the sudden loss of the mother with her husband (Paul, low-key yet very affective) drinking his pains away and their sons (Wiggins, a natural and equally affective turn, who reminds me of a young Kevin Bacon, and Garner), the eldest the titular end result. Lewis is equally low-key as the concerned aunt. While filmmaker Kat Candler elicits fine work from her actors the script leaves much to be desired and more fleshed out. While there are so many outlets for the characters to explore each road feels abandoned.