Six films, six twisted tales of vengeance. An Argentine anthology film with a dark sense of humor and a gruesome streak, Damian Szifron’s Wild Tales links its six vignettes together through a single, common theme: revenge. Not revenge in the grand, Shakespearean sense, however. Rather, the pounds of flesh extracted by the characters in Wild Tales pay for the squabbles and petty frustrations that each and every one of us face. The results are entertaining if, like most anthologies, a little bit hit and miss. Each segment is reviewed, below.

Pasternak

The shortest film in Wild Tales, and probably the best of the bunch. A group of people board a plane, only to slowly (and to their horror) realize that they all share a certain person in common. The short all boils down to one big joke, but it’s certainly an effective one. There’s also a bit of resonance, the film illustrating the anxiety we may or may not have about the people we hurt without really giving it any thought. B+

“Las Ratas” (The Rats)

A waitress recognizes a customer as the man who ruined her family, and the cook promptly proposes that they put rat poison in his food. Despite being the second-shortest film (besides the opening), the formlessness of this vignette kind of kills it (pun not intended). There’s build-up at first, but then it all falls apart as characters fall into a pattern of acting and reacting for a while, before awkwardly coming to an end. C-

“El más fuertes” (The Strongest)

Trails just behind Pasternak as the highlight of the movie. A simple case of road rage escalates into a vulgar tale of tit-for-tat looney-tunery. This short best showcases what Wild Tales as a whole is going for: pushing people to their limit, until they finally break the bonds society has placed on them in order to pursue their baser instincts. There’s also a clever undercurrent of class consciousness, the two highway combatants being a rich guy in a new sports car versus a poor man in an old, beat-up truck. Top-notch hilarious, with a perfect final shot. B

“Bombita” (Little Bomb)

A demolitions expert finds that his car’s been towed after he parked on a curb that wasn’t marked as a no-parking zone. Bricked away from a proper response by the monolith of bureaucracy, his brain eventually snaps and…well…he is a demolitions expert. Therein lies the problem, though. You’d think that utilizing a man who knows how to blow things up would lead to a louder finale than the other shorts, but the climax here is actually more of a dud. There’s little catharsis to be had here – and it doesn’t help that this segment is longer than the others, and spends a lot more time belaboring its point. C-

“La Propuesta” (The Proposal)

A rich young man hits and kills a woman with his car while driving drunk. His father and lawyer come up with a plan to protect him by convincing the family gardener to take the fall. But things get complicated as more people become involved in the plot, each one demanding more money for their participation. The social satire is coming on strongest here, but like Little Bomb, it’s hurt by getting reiterated constantly over a longer runtime. It’s a shame, since the setup has promise. And again, the ending is not only a deflation, but one you’ll see coming from far away. C

“Hasta que la muertas nos separe” (Until Death Do Us Part)

Fortunately, the movie ends on a high note. In the midst of her wedding reception, a woman learns that her husband cheated on her some months ago with a co-worker – a co-worker who happens to be at the party. At first shattered, the bride eventually decides to take control in the most aggressively erratic way possible. Her and her husband’s arc is nearly identical to that of the main characters from Gone Girl, but compressed into less than half of an hour, and much, much funnier. Sadly, though it’s paced well, the escalation halts after a while, and as in The Rats, there’s a sense that people are doing things to simply pad out the film’s runtime. It’s the only one of the shorts without a death, and frankly, it could have really used one. When you promise escalation, go the distance! B-

Grade: C+