A two year old action/thriller that boosts no particular footprint on pop culture was a strange movie to pick. But a non-LB friend recommended it out of nowhere and after years of ignoring his recommendations to watch Justified and Yellowstone, I said fine… I can watch a 90 minute movie. One that basically feels like what a condensed Justified or Yellowstone would probably be like.

The film stars professional “hey, it’s that guy” Neal McDonough in an unlikely starring role. He’s a hit man who takes a hit himself and is patched up by a pretty small town preacher lady. She’s gotten herself mixed up with some bad guys… so, you know, good timing on his part.

Neal McDonough doesn’t play many leading men… usually he plays the smarmy rich guy villain with piercing blue eyes. So it was interesting to see him as a lead… even if he’s just playing another professional killer. He doesn’t have a lot of dialog and uses his face to do most of his talking. I’m not convinced he’s the best actor outside his usual range… but it’s nice to see him get a chance.

The film itself is very morose and leaden… kind of last stop at depression county. It gets off to a pretty grim start but once the trouble the preacher is in becomes evident and we meet the dirtbag villains, the movie picks up. It’s never exactly nuanced or complicated though. It’s mainly a just-the-facts story of protecting a lady against a tiny army of bad guys.

Bad guys and one particularly lethal lady. I’m not sure who Christina Ochoa is but she cuts a deadly figure as a cold, statuesque, cunning killer. More of her please…

The film has some writing and logic problems in the form of “wait didn’t he just say that a few scenes ago…?” type script problems. But if you ignore those, maybe it’s a perfectly fine crime thriller with a pretty good shootout in the final act. It gets the job done… it was reasonably thrilling and gets just over the hump into mild recommendation territory.

Score: 80