Hyena

Hyenas are ferocious killers, animals who are willing to do whatever it takes to survive. It’s a fitting title for a film about a corrupt cop whose world begins to crumble, forcing him to aggressively act out if he wants to live. In the spectrum of good cops and bad cops, Hyena is a gritty crime drama that lands somewhere in the middle.

Michael (Peter Ferdinando) has spent years working as an undercover police officer embedding himself deep within London’s drug and sex trafficking circles. He’s not your typical cop, however, and isn’t afraid to work both sides, giving criminals a heads up here and there or looking the other way for a cut of the money. The opening scene is him and his crew raiding a local nightclub. It actually takes a few minutes before you realize that these guys are cops and not just some gang looking for an easy score. Drugs, sex, and alcohol are all part of their daily lives.

Things turn sour for Michael when the Albanians and Turks start to flourish. Even worse, the higher ups at his precinct are starting to get wind of his afterhour doings. It’s a thin line that Michael is balancing on and every action he takes pushes him slightly closer to the edge and reveals more of his inner brutality. It soon becomes abundantly clear that he’s only out for himself.

Hyena is a slow burn with Michael front and center. The film boasts itself as “ultraviolent” and while yes, there are plenty of violent scenes, I felt having the score taking precedence over the audio of these scenes took away much of its impact. It’s one thing to see blood splatter across a wall; it’s completely different to hear the blood splatter. Peter Ferdinando does a decent job of carrying the film, but there’s only so much he can do given the source material.

Hyena may seem boring and dull to some. There are no thrilling car chases or any massive explosions. It’s a dark and in-your-face film that captures the brutal nature of one man and his surroundings. It’s what happens when a Hyena gets trapped in a corner with no way out.