Mob Land

Greetings again from the darkness. As one who readily admits to watching too many movies each year, I always welcome the unanticipated joy in being pleasantly surprised by one that exceeds expectations. Doing just that is the first feature film from writer-director Nicholas Maggio and co-writer Rob Healy - a neo-noir thriller that takes place in a small rural community down south.

Now you might initially cringe (I did) at the thought of John Travolta carrying a big gun and wearing a cowboy hat as slow-talking Sheriff Bodie Davis in this small town, but I'm happy to report he never overplays his hand and delivers a truly respectable performance. However, despite the poster, his marquee name, and the gravitas he carries, Travolta is not the main focus here. Instead, Shiloh Fernandez plays Shelby Conners, a greasy-haired, drag racing, local truck driver and mechanic who shares a daughter with his town beauty wife, Caroline (Ashley Benson). The family is struggling to make ends meet in this town where drug overdoses barely raise an eyebrow.

Caroline's brother and Shelby's friend, Trey (Kevin Dillon), drags Shelby into a get-rich-quick scheme derived from desperate times. A local clinic is the front for a drug-dealer, which means piles of cash on hand, with not enough security. Shelby reluctantly agrees and, of course, things go sideways. Only it gets much worse when Clayton Minor (Stephen Dorff) shows up and informs the boys that they ripped off the New Orleans mafia, and as the fixer/enforcer, he's there to set things right.

Many times we have seen local boys looking for an easy score. Rarely are the scores easy, and never are they without consequences. Trey doesn't last long, but a strange connection occurs between Shelby and Clayton. Now he's been doing this for a while and he's very good at his job, but Clayton is struck by Shelby's sincerity. Empathy may be a stretch, but he's at least paying attention to the humanity of the situation, despite threatening Shelby's wife and daughter. It does present an unfamiliar dilemma for Clayton, serving as the crux of the story.

As you know, in small movie towns, everyone knows everyone else, so smooth-talking Clayton in his shiny black Caddy stands out like the proverbial sore thumb. Sheriff Brodie is suspicious and cautious and worried about his nephew Shelby, but there's not much he can do to keep up with the gangster. Travolta and Dorff have a couple of nice scenes together, and the film's opening sequences establish the contrast between their characters.

But it's Shelby and Clayton who spend the bulk of the film together. Dorff has most of the best lines, and Fernandez holds his own. Mr. Dorff has always been a personal favorite, and I've often wished he was cast in better movies. Mr. Fernandez was once considered a rising star, and seems to have settled into his acting career just fine (sans spotlight).

Devlin McCluskey sings a terrific and unusual version of "House of the Rising Sun" during the film, and Jason Dodson (the Maldives) plays a wonderful song over the credits, and both songs fit with the look and feel and tone and style of the film ... something that doesn't always happen. There is nothing about the film that gives the impression of 'first time director', so we will sit anxiously awaiting the next one from Nicholas Maggio. In the meantime, hopefully someone will give Stephen Dorff another perfect role.

Opens August 4, 2023.

I have to give Mob Land a lot of credit. For a Saban film it actually had an advertising campaign, a trailer with a slowed down cover of House of the Rising Sun, a theatrical poster, and even a theatrical release! That's awesome! They're really stepping up their game. When I saw the trailer for Mob Land I figured I'd have to get this from RedBox but I'll be darned, it actually came soon to a theater near me.

And ya know what? It really wasn't a bad movie! Which unfortunately kind of plays to the audiences detriment. It's not bad enough to be fun and not good enough to be fun. It's a middle of the road picture that grasps at some really interesting ideas but doesn't have the finesse to make them work effectively.

For example our lead character is an out of work mechanic with Parkinson's who is at his wits end on how to provide for his family (interesting!), his solution is to rob a local drug dealer with his scumbag uncle (not very interesting). When the big boss hears about the robbery he sends his top head smasher to go recover the stolen loot and deliver the punks responsible. It's been done a lot.

The acting is good, actually. Stephen Dorff and John Travolta give a solid effort and have the charisma and depth to add nuance to their characters. Kevin Dillon plays that moocher, kinda scummy uncle we all have. There are decent performances here. It's the script that squanders their potential to push the movie out of mediocrity.

Mob Land is a movie very much in the same vein as No Country For Old Men, The Place Beyond The Pines, and Hell or High Water. Yes, those films had staggering budgets and a plethora of Grade A talent but most importantly they had wonderful scripts. The difference between Mob Land and those other pictures is that when characters have philosophical conversations about their motives, or meandering questions about their situations, it's interesting. They're building to something. Through misdirection and unconvention these films grip the audience and never let go.

I feel like Mob Land tries hard to be a character study disguised as a crime drama but it doesn't know how to examine itself. It's a vacuum sucking up all this inspiration from wonderful films but it just sits there with the pieces.

Also, Mob Land suffers from some pacing issues, that meandering, philosophical dialogue I mentioned earlier? There is a lot of it here. And we're sitting in cars listening to it, sitting in diners listening to it, sitting in garages listening to it. But philosophy turns to redundancy; it simply never goes anywhere.

Unlike the camera in this movie which goes everywhere! I've coined a new term for how this movie was shot: "Chimp-Cam". 95% of this movie was shot handheld with a stomach-churning shaky cam that is crotch level looking up at the actors. I literally, in my mind, pictured a chimpanzee shooting this movie. And it made it better. 20% of that 95% were tracking shots that were tracking shots just to be tracking shots. Do we need a nauseatingly shaky tracking shot to watch a guy walk from his car to his front door? What's the point?

I don't want to rag on this movie, truly. It's a massive step in the right direction for Saban Films. I feel like they've made an actual film in Mob Land.

If this script could've had one or two more passes that took those longer dialogue exchanges and cut them down to be leaner and more tense...shoot this would be so much better. If they could've given a little more dimension or originality to our lead character's development, hot dang this would be a different review. If they would've hired an actual director of photography and not a half trained chimpanzee...

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...

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.