AGGRO DR1FT – REVIEW

I’m going to be honest, this is one of my most anticipated movies of the year. AGGRO DR1FT has fascinated me since it was announced last summer. Its director, Harmony Korine, who’s made movies like Gummo and Spring Breakers, has also actively shown his distaste for movies right now. He’s even dubbed AGGRO DR1FT as “gamecore,” being much more inspired by Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto cutscenes than other movies. After premiering at the Venice Film Festival last September, it’s mainly gone on to be screened in strip clubs and be the background for Boiler Room sets by Yung Lean. So, whether or not I’d think it’s good or bad, AGGRO DR1FT was basically being set up as something new for the film industry, even if it’s a deep dive into experimental film and, at certain points, video art. Against all odds, though, AGGRO DR1FT does end up occupying a very strange space in my head.

It’s worth mentioning what the plot is, even if it isn’t the focal point of the movie. Jordi Mollà plays Bo, a seasoned assassin who lives in the seedy, criminal underbelly of Miami. The movie treats Bo like a nomad, moving from place to place, target to target while he eventually comes home to his wife and kids who don’t know anything about what he does for work. His latest target is a demonic crime lord (emphasis on demonic) who is taunting him through ghostly visions throughout the whole movie. So, he’s gotta go kill him. As I said earlier, though, it’s literally not meant to be the focus of the movie. The movie’s synopsis when it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival ends with reading that “the particulars of its minimalist plot are largely moot; the vibe is what’s paramount.”

I just realized I haven’t mentioned the “gimmick” of AGGRO DR1FT yet, so I’ll mention it here. If you haven’t noticed from the picture above or the trailer below, AGGRO DR1FT is entirely shot in infrared. It’s not entirely a gimmick like another video game-inspired action movie, Hardcore Henry (which was filmed entirely in first-person), but the thermal imagery shown does have its striking moments. Whenever Bo wears a mask during his missions, you could see his breath light up the mask where his mouth would be. Whenever someone smokes, the thermal camera flickers and all the heat shows on the cigar or vape pen when it lights up. It’s stuff like that, but the imagery is tinkered with throughout to admittedly headache-inducing levels. For example, a bright light occasionally flashes when the barrel of a gun is shoved into the camera. I just don’t think that’s how it works.

I also think that there’s some early-era generative AI in here, with some truly crude-looking traceovers of robot faces and overall machinery covering pretty much every character at some point in the movie. It’s nothing too good, it’s like a few years ago when you’d type something like “Will Smith eating a bowl of spaghetti” and it’d just look like an Eldritch being. Korine has said that his newest company, EDGLRD, does embrace a lot of AI tools in their upcoming releases, but doesn’t let it take the wheel. I personally prefer not letting AI into the filmmaking process in general, like when A24 put out AI-generated posters to promote Civil War or the controversy that surrounded the pretty great Late Night with the Devil, but I’m also guilty of messing around with generating AI images, especially during that now-shrinking point in time where it did look like shit. In the context of being video art and an experimental film in general (as well as seemingly not including it in the production of AGGRO DR1FT), I’m gonna let it slide, but just know that I’m onto this thing and I sincerely hope Hollywood as a whole doesn’t embrace AI in the pre-production process. I’m looking at you, Hellboy: The Crooked Man. I’m not watching that shit because of that.

Is it even worth mentioning the writing and acting here? I think it’s worth it because, simply put, it’s abysmal. I’m aware that it’s not what the movie’s going for, but I can’t stress enough just how funny it is, intentional or not. Mollà is the main role here and is definitely the most watchable here, but the audience was laughing a good bit *at* the movie too, especially when we heard Bo repeatedly mumble “I am a solitary hero. I am alone. I am a solitary hero. I am alone.” for minutes on end. My favorite aspect of the movie is, somehow, Travis Scott, who pops up as one of Bo’s “children,” a disciple of his who learned all of his skills. I’m not going to spoil any of it simply because it has to be seen to be believed, but he’s got some of the funniest line readings I’ve heard in a long time. Since the full cast isn’t out online at the time of me writing this, there’s also Bo’s supplier, who feels like he comes out of a Grand Theft Auto game in the best and worst ways possible.



As I mentioned earlier, AGGRO DR1FT is in a weird space in my head. Is it so bad that it’s good? Or is it just bad? Or am I overthinking it? I honestly have no clue, but what I do know is that I’ve never seen anything like it. In my mind, this could end up being my own version of The Room: something that’s obviously not made to be a good movie (or even *a* movie) in any way, something that has truly terrible aspects about it, yet I can’t bring myself to call it bad because it was such a fun thing to witness and watch with a packed audience. Is it my favorite movie of the year? Yes. Is it the worst movie of the year? Also yes. Five stars? Half a star? Who cares? I’m gonna give it five stars anyway, though, because like Harmony Korine, I guess I can do whatever I want.

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Given the unconventional release and overall promotion of AGGRO DR1FT, I honestly have no clue whether or not this is going to get any sort of home release, digital or physical. If it does get either, especially a physical release, it’s an instant buy for me.