Steppenwolf – Review | Fantasia (3/5)

STEPPENWOLF (2024) is a Kazakh Revenge Thriller with an extremely brutal story where many lives are lost. Still, it’s also about a certain kind of justice. Read our full Steppenwolf movie review here!

STEPPENWOLF (2024) is a new thriller with a revenge story. As a Kazakh revenge thriller, this movie may seem very foreign, but the story is universal. A woman searches for her young son and will stop at absolutely nothing.

Even if you don’t care for foreign films, this is a movie you should check out if you get the chance. The film is screening at Fantasia 2024 and it is already scheduled for a US release soon so more people can watch it.

Continue reading our Steppenwolf movie review below.

A very relatable hero

She may be quiet and very gentle in her approach to anyone, but she never stops. The desperate mother searching for her son in the middle of a coup or the beginning of a civil war keeps moving forward.

Asking anyone (when she can get the words out) if they’ve seen her son. She’s not your classic hero, but she is a hero nonetheless.

Of course, her mission does become easier (and a lot more deadly), when she teams up with a psychopath to find her son. They move around in an apocalyptic landscape reminiscent of Mad Max.

It really does come across as a dead and hopeless world. But as long as you keep going, there is always hope.

A fierce and even funny avenger

Unlike in Mad Max, Steppenwolf has no colorful villains. Instead, the world is gritty and dark in this barren landscape. Well, with the exception of Brajyuk (Berik Aitzhanov) who comes across as a Charles Bronson character.

Brajyuk was once a detective, but today he works as an interrogator. The kind who doesn’t mind breaking bones to get answers. Often in creative ways. He’s a mercenary working for the highest bidder.

Also, more than anything, Brajyuk is a psychopath.

As the mother, who is consumed by trauma and barely able to speak, meets him, she asks for his help and offers money. The kind of money she surely does not have, but Brajyuk is ready for a new violent adventure.

The woman’s name is Tamara (Anna Starchenko) and she’s searching for her young son, Timka. That’s the one thing she can always say; His name!

Steppenwolf screening at Fantasia 2024

Steppenwolf comes from the celebrated Kazakh filmmaker Adilkhan Yerzhanov (The Gentle Indifference of the World) and he was also at Fantasia 2019 with the movie Night God.

Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky (Leviathan) is also behind this new revenge thriller where a desperate mother and a violence-loving psychopath go on a journey that will be riddled with bodies.

It’s been describes as what a Kazakh Mad Max directed by John Ford would look like. A neo-Western vengeance thriller, if you will, and that seems about right.

To me, it’s also reminiscent of a dark South Korean thriller mystery where guessing the next twist is impossible. It’s bleak and disturbing, but also very much worth checking out as soon as you get the chance.

This Steppenwolf movie review is part of our Fantasia 2024 coverage.

Details

Director: Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Writer: Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Cast: Anna Starchenko, Berik Aitzhanov