Mob Land

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.

Someone decided to turn on the 'Hillbilly' tropes and keep them going through the whole film. Every line felt like it was a depiction of what someone from California thought that someone who from the South might say, not the way people actually talk. The accents were horrible and the cliche filled caricatures were distracting.

This move would have gotten a higher score from me, maybe a solid 7/10 if not for the dialogue and the poor character portrayals. The cinematography was spot on and atmospheric, the music was good (Not great), and there was an okay plot, though not as fleshed out as I would have liked to have seen.

This movie was one I didn't regret watching once, but I would be hard pressed to sit down and watch it again.

Travolta's the headliner, but Stephen Dorff, to my way of thinking, was the lead and most interesting character and did a tremendous job as the heavy.

The story wasn't amazingly original and could even be called cliched, but it was interesting enough to keep me interested for a few hours which is more than I can say for a lot of the post-COVID films I've seen.

Brief synopsis: Travolta's a Sheriff, Kevin Dillon and some dude I've never heard of are thieves who stole from the wrong bunch for the wrong reasons, and Dorff is the mob's "avenger" sent to get revenge on the thieves.

Good acting all around, decent story, and overall entertaining.

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.

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.