Bad Turn Worse

The film opens with a quick and easy robbery. Then come the bright-yellow seventies-style credits. However do not be fooled, whilst film-quality may also suggest a seventies setting, the only other similarity with that era, is a brooding foreboding and grim realism.

The film is set in modern-day Texas. Earlier scenes are light but as the film progresses grimmer and grittier adult scenes make this uncomfortable viewing that goes right up to the edge. This is not a film for the faint-hearted.

The story revolves around three young adults who are caught up in the aftermath of the robbery. They become involved in the criminal underworld and the situation soon escalates.

This film is a modern film-noir so as is typical for the genre there are lots of twists and betrayals. Some plot twists are shown to us the audience before they are experienced by the characters, thus giving suspense, others are not.

Mark Pellegrino has a meaty role, rather like that of James Franco in 'Homefront' (2013) or even 'Tommy' in 'Goodfellas' (1990). The younger Logan Huffman plays a character like 'Tommy' in 'The Butterfly Effect' (2004). Both convince in their roles. Mr Pellegrino's character is cold, even while he pretends to be friendly and playful. Mr Huffman's character by contrast is a brooding presence. His mental machinations and robust physique make him intimidating and scarily unpredictable.

Mackenzie Davis and Jeremy Allen White play two college-student-types who get caught up in the mayhem. The two young thespians act their socks off as they struggle in the situations their characters are plunged into.

There is also good support from Jon Gries. Veteran actor William Devane, in a cameo, got it just right, and shows, as he did in 'Marathon Man' (1976), that a small role can be played to make an effective and lasting impression.

The film was directed by Simon and Zeke Hawkins. They captured great scenes of the flat Texas landscape as well as taking scary and tense scenes to the very limit of the audience's endurance. They should be rightly proud of this full-length film. Hopefully, we will see many more films from this talented pair in the future.

If you liked the 2012 films 'Mud' and 'Everybody Has a Plan', or the 2013 films 'Cold Comes the Night', 'The Counsellor', 'Love Is the Perfect Crime' or 'Homefront', then this similarly dark film-noir will appeal to you.

A grim and gritty 9/10 but a strong stomach is needed.

Three Texas teens hope to make a break for it and escape their dead-end existence in a cotton-mill town but get sucked into the seedy underbelly of organized crime when one of them steals from the wrong man.

The general plot of this is pretty good, and fans of crime or heist movies will probably dig it. There is a really cool scene with the heist run-through that really makes the film for me, and if nothing else, solidified this as a better-than-average movie.

What are we to make of the "32 ways to tell a story" theme? Is that a hint of how we should interpret this plot? It seems like yes, but exactly what we are to take away from it remains unclear. Perhaps a second viewing is in order?

B.J. (Logan Huffman), his book-loving girlfriend Sue (Mackenzie Davis) and best friend Bobby (Jeremy Allen White) live in a small Texas town. Sue and Bobby are looking to leave for college. B.J. is acting up. He's jealous of them leaving and angry at their unspoken sexual chemistry. He had stolen money from their local criminal boss Giff (Mark Pellegrino). Giff starts beating on the Mexican guard and Bobby falsely confesses to the theft. Giff kills the guard anyways. Bobby is shocked that it turns out to be $20k from Big Red (William Devane) and Giff wants Bobby to repay it. Giff tells them to rob Big Red.

I like the young threesome. I'm a big fan of Jeremy Allen White in Shameless. Mackenzie Davis has a powerful energy about her. Logan Huffman grows on me with his creepiness. I do wonder why either of them likes B.J. but that's not out of the question in a small town. My first problem is Bobby's false confession. Bobby is not an idiot. He knows it's at a minimum $2000 and he couldn't pay that back himself. At first, I thought he was related to Giff and therefore not afraid of being killed by him. It simply doesn't make any sense other than the need to advance the plot. It could have been done in a different way. The Mexican could have falsely fingered Bobby before being killed. B.J. could have double-crossed Bobby. I don't buy Bobby volunteering to take the fall. I still like the threesome and I love the pulpy hard-boiled noirish style but it's hard for me to overcome the misstep.

Saw this 2 years ago and decided to rewatch it today.

I literally remembered nothing about it except that I found it underwhelming but passable as a time-waster.

Rewatching it today unfortunately I ended up focusing on the wrong things, like for instance the acting which was subpar for the morepart. Mark Pellegrino is an alright baddie but the youngsters in the lead didn't really impress.

Especially Jeremy Allen White who had a constant blank face in every scene even in the most intense life-threatening ones and we are supposed to root for him after all which is hard when even he doesn't show signs of caring.

But he's young and I'm sure he'll do better in other things.

The pace doesn't help either as it highlights the flaws more than anything else.

So yeah definitely not a movie you end up watching over and over again, I know 2 times is more than enough in fact I should have stuck at 1.

"We gotta get out of this place" ... that's the title I saw this movie with at a Festival. It's a nice little thriller, where the inciting incident can be smelled a mile away (at least). If you can get over that bump, you are in for a nice little ride. It has a few nice twists and turns along the way.

The acting is good enough and the movie has a nice pace. Are there flaws/clichés along the way? Yes there are, but like with the initial bump, they can be overlooked to a certain extent. Relationships are almost drawn and are heading to an obvious (from the start) direction. But if it's done right ... like here, you can forgive the movie. If you do, is up to you