Hyena's convoluted tale is given a fresh coat of grime by Johnson's direction, which favors handheld cinematography -- often tracking its protagonists from behind -- that gives the action a pseudo-vrit ruggedness.

| May 1, 2015

I suspect that anyone who actually makes it to the bitter end will be enraged by what it does and does not contain.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 1, 2015

"Hyena" feels like a throwback to the tough-as-nails British gangster flicks of the 1970s.

| Apr 30, 2015

The kind of gory British policier from which you come away with the queasy feeling that the world is essentially a butcher shop ruled by greed, murder, cruelty and lust.

| Apr 30, 2015

Johnson aspires to make Hyena into the stuff of classical tragedy, yet he telegraphs Michael's inward transformation way too soon.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 30, 2015

At its most palatable the film recalls "The Long Good Friday"; at its harshest, it's a grotty cousin to "The Bad Lieutenant." There's enough filmmaking intelligence to guide "Hyena" through its worst excesses, however.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 30, 2015

Mr. Johnson isn't out just for blood, or sociology, but the clever hybrid he creates is wholly entertaining.

| Apr 30, 2015

While the movie keeps tightening the noose around Logan's neck, any interest in whether he'll manage to escape being arrested or killed is largely academic.

| Original Score: B- | Apr 30, 2015

As stylish, scorched-earth entertainment, it'll get you in its teeth.

| Apr 28, 2015

It's a film about the lawless and unruly, but it could stand to step outside the lines a bit.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 28, 2015

The Gerard Johnson film's blanket cynicism is its most shopworn quality of all.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Apr 27, 2015

Trying to hybridize thick-ear genre material with more artistically ambitious fare, the results are too leaden for the Jason Statham crowd but insufficiently distinctive to find a more rarefied niche.

| Apr 27, 2015

Johnson's filmmaking, however, takes no such short cuts, with sound, image and editing colluding to keep Hyena in a perpetual state of agitated panic. Technique often excitingly thwarts our genre expectations.

| Apr 27, 2015

The film never quite escapes the grip of the genre cliches with which it wrestles.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 8, 2015

What lifts the film is Johnson's visual style and Ferdinando's utterly committed and intense performance as the corrupt cop.

| Mar 6, 2015

There's something bullish and unrelenting about writer-director Gerard Johnson's filmmaking that sets this bleak drama apart.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 6, 2015

The ending is frustrating: it runs out of ideas before the final credits. But Johnson packs an almighty punch.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 5, 2015

Hyena doesn't stint on creating a grubbily repellent universe, but it never gives us one solid reason to stick around.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 5, 2015

Intoxicating, ferocious, and righteously disturbing but also frustrating, uneven and clichd.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 5, 2015

Writer-director Gerard Johnson and chameleon-like star Ferdinando continue to impress with their strong collaboration here.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 4, 2015