Warning Shot

This screenplay was a mess. Boring and unnecessary dialog that will leave you shaking your head. Who cares about water rights? Why did the one guy want to be a Dr. Phil and psychoanalyze the mother with "who cares" questions? How many times do we need to correct "gun" to "rifle"? Was this supposed to be humor?

Novice writer Breanne Mattson should just stick to short films, or at least needed to edit this down to 65-70 mins, not the 90 mins that felt like 120.

There was no real plot to this film, just a bunch of useless conversations with poorly acted "thrilling scenes" which I'm guessing novice director Dustin Fairbanks' inexperience failed to direct his actors.

David Spade wasn't bad for a serious role, but Tammy Blanchard and little Onata Aprile nailed their roles. James Earl Jones and Bruce Dern's small roles were decent but nothing extraordinary.

You'll probably want to pass on this film, as the trailer was way more exciting and pretty much is the entire film. Otherwise be prepared to fall asleep from boredom.

A generous 4/10 from me for the only 5-10 mins of good tension and the gals' acting.

Mom and her daughter inherit a farm. And just in time. Audrey is stuggling to stay afloat at her part time job. But someone in town wants the water rights that come with the land. Fighting over water is an old story... so many westerns featured battles over wells and water. But when the thugs come knocking on audrey's door, things get way out of hand. SO much yakkity yakkity in between the violent attacks. This film gets very dark, and never comes back. Just goes on and on. Some familiar faces in this... bruce dern, james jones, david spade. Quite the score. It's watchable, but i'm not a fan of all that violence. And did we really need to hear grandpa (dern) ramble on so long about how he made his money? No real plot holes, but it just wasn't that interesting. Directed by dustin fairbanks. So many producers. And a long list of "special thanks" as well.

Mercifully it is only 87 minutes long.

Poorly written, poorly directed, unevenly acted, and generally implausible despite being based on a true story, the movie is alternately painful to watch, boring, and insulting to the viewer.

There are a few decent performances. Bruce Dern, James Earle Jones, and one or two others are OK, and Onata Aprile as the little girl did a very good job. Beyond that the acting is shallow and weak. In a movie with almost no story where people are being senselessly terrorized the viewer needs some depth of meaning or character to make the terror watchable. None here.

The movie doesn't ring true, as if the creators are from another planet and have no real sense of how people actually behave. The movie did inspire me to learn about the actual case in order to try to understand what may have actually happened.

The movie makers repeatedly commit two unforgivable sins too often found in action and horror films. One, when given the chance to thwart the aggressors and gain control the victims are inept. Lacking imagination, the movie makers simply hope the viewer will not notice.

Second, villains and criminals, even dumb ones, generally act in a way that will minimize the possible consequences of their actions and achieve their goals with the least risk and effort. Not here.

The ending was slightly satisfying, so I added an additional star to my rating.

Lots of tension!! Unconfortable but very entertaining!!

This is one of those rare movies these days where you really care about the characters, at least if you have any kind of empathy. At times it was painful to watch, but for a good reason. I might add that parts of it has some of the qualities of a stage play in its style, unlike the more flash-bang Hollywood stuff, so if you're adverse to that it might not be for you.

It was also quite 'economical' in its unfolding. That is to say, not one line or movement was wasted. Everything had meaning, and there was no unnecessary filler of any kind. The acting was good by all involved, and I can't fault the directing or photography either - in short this was good movie making.

The IMDB category reads "Drama, Thriller" - I'd add "Fable" to that. I hope it will not be overlooked in the steady stream of shallower, but more popular movies. Watch it if you want nerve and meaning. Skip it if you want action and one liners.