Rating: C+
Dir: Shaun Silva
Star: Zach Roerig, Billy Zane, Cara Jade Myers, Scott Adkins
As Scott Adkins movies go, this is a bit different. It’s a relatively minor role, he plays a bad guy, and there’s only one scene of fistucuffs for him. While none of which are immediately lethal, they do leave the film leaning heavily on its other elements for the viewer’s amusement, and these have their issues. Adkins plays Kyle Rusk, a bank robber who has been hunted for years by Marshal Butch Hayden (Zane), to the point it has become an extrajudicial obsession for Hayden. After narrowly evading capture by the lawman, Rusk is heading back to the farm in rural Georgia where he lives with wife Emily (Myers). Except, Hayden gets there first.
Which is where things get messy. The Marshal asks local Sheriff John Dorsey (Roerig) for help. But with limited manpower and issues of his own – not least, his own deputy running against him in an upcoming election – Dorsey is disinclined to help. But realizing a Marshals’ endorsement could help his campaign, he agrees to help. Which is where things get messier. Because Hayden’s “by any means necessary” approach, involving holding Emily hostage, do not sit well with the local lawman. Kyle finds out what is waiting for him, and recruits help of his own from a biker gang led by Big Buck (Trace Adkins, no relation – a country singer, though he was also in Apache Junction), a man who hates Hayden for gunning down his brother.
Yeah: messy. And it continues down that road until the very end, with twists of varying complexity and plausibility. The main problem is that Sheriff Dorsey is about the least interesting character here, yet he ends up the film’s focus. His character arcs from unwilling to take action against kids who TP his house, to facing off against Kyle, after declining the prudent option to avoid the confrontation. Everyone else, down to and including Big Buck, are better at holding your attention. Hayden channels his Doc Holliday, coughing up blood, while Emily is likely the sharpest card in the deck, taking no shit from anyone. Her husband, meanwhile, gets the least screen-time, but Adkins makes for a compelling enough villain, despite being rather underutilized.
Despite the twists, there aren’t many major surprises of significance here. These seem mostly garnish, such as the enmity between Dorsey and his deputy becoming extremely personal, not just political. Take those away and this could be a straightforward Western from the black hat/white hat era – save a somewhat irritating hip-hop soundtrack. Consequently, we get the Sheriff and the villain facing off against each other, until… Another twist that isn’t really necessary, and actually leaves the “hero” looking weaker still. This is consequently a donut of a movie. There’s a big hole in the middle, and it’s only the stuff around the edges that has any flavour. Is that enough to be satisfying? I’m still a bit peckish.
This review is part of Project Adkins, covering the movies of Scott Adkins.