Mob Land

Small town aw shucks down on his luck guy gets roped in by his criminal brother for an easy payday. Heist doesn't go according to plan. Things get dicey for the brothers as they robbed an interstate crime outfit. Their uncle who is the town's sheriff played by John Travolta is investigating the incident. Crime outfit sends their fixer man to "settle" the matter of stolen goods and money.

The movie has the pulse of a dying man. John Travolta is the IV drip that keeps this movie alive. That is not saying much about JT but since I am a fan I kept watching through to the end. Stephen Dorff plays the same character as in Old Henry. Its just a costume change for him basically same speech same tone.

I think most people will stick with the movie because they know how it will end. Its just a house fire and yet we can't resist staring.

5 stars for JT's appearance.

More of a character study than a tense, pedestrian thriller that owes a heavy debt to No Country For Old Men in its atmosphere, scope and microscopic detail of small town life.

The change of Stephen Dorff's character to help our protagonist seemed rather too abrupt and underwritten that didn't make much sense and if you've seen the aforementioned 2007 film you certainly wouldn't want to see this.

Nonetheless, it's well acted by the muscular cast , has decent cinematography makes most of its low budget origins and has a sympathetic character in John Travolta.

It won't win prizes for originality for passes for a passable time killer.

First off, I'm not a John Travolta fan, but watched this just for him - and it was worth it. Other reviewers who say he's old and out of shape, well, aren't we all at some point?

This is a good ensemble film. Nothing great, but an interesting watch and get a lot of down home southern homilies - they are a type of religion in the south.

The problem was, that everyone was a philosopher.

There were some surprising performances, quiet, smooth. My favorite was Timothy V. Murphy - who played Sheriff Ben. Not a big part, but he was a great foil for Travolta.

It's not the best film around, but it has good music and it's worth the watch when there's nothing else that tickles your fancy.

Checked this one out because of the 'heavyweight' cast, but sad to report the script and screenplay don't match the talent on show.

A badly aging John Travolta headlines with typical aplomb as a smalltown redneck sheriff, with Matt's bro Kevin Dillon also putting in a decent turn as the film's pivotal catalyst to disaster. However, it's the oft underrated Stephen Dorff who steals the show as a New Orleans mafia enforcer. Dorff is off the hook and carries his weighty bad guy role with typically sinister yet cool-calculated nastiness. He will keep you watching if nothing much else will.

The story itself however is a letdown. It's slow, lacking in tension, originality and continuity, while you really have to shake your head at Travolta's continual failures to connect the dots.

On the plus side there are some decent shootouts, driving scenes and reasonable character development, but the bottomline is this is a rather predictable, low-budget b-movie that fails to ignite, or be quirky/original enough to push it into 'cult' movie territory like an early Cohen Brothers flick for example.

In summation then a one-watch rainy night film at best. Y'all come back now y'hear...

A film we have seen a variation of a bunch of times, it really never gets old, if done well. Similar to No Country for Old Men, this time in Georgia and with a cast that mostly drags this out a bit much. Fortunately there are some interesting settings and set pieces that are a bit out of the norm and add a level of realistic grime, such as all the worn out vehicles still on display. There are really no protagonists here to get behind, but I liked Stephen Dorffs character and performance the most. His script was on the nose for the character, and although predictable, seemed the most convincing. Good show, but has some odd plot holes scattered around and then also the camera work was a little too hand-held for my personal taste. Im not big on wobbly/shaky frames, even if because it has to be done on the cheap.