We Gotta Get Out of This Place
Vanguard
Directors: Simon Hawkins, Zeke Hawkins
This debut film from the Hawkins brothers doesn’t contain realistic characters, dialogue, or even a believable set-up for a good neo-noir. It’s merely a tired exercise from people who watched one too many films from Tarantino or the Coen Brothers and somehow thought that people making long-winded, grandiose, asinine speeches before killing someone makes up for a complete and utter lack of depth in every other respect.
A psychopathic teen (Logan Huffman) steals twenty grand from his even more psychopathic boss (Mark Pellegrino) to give his girlfriend (Mackenzie Davis) and his best bud (Jeremy Allen White) a night on the town they’ll never forget. When the theft is discovered and the money turns out to the property of a local crime lord and money launderer, the trio are forced into stealing a large sum of cash to work off the debt.
The performances are fine and the Hawkins have a good visual eye, but listening to these characters prattle on and posture inconsequentially is exhausting beyond words. It doesn’t sound like a script, but like a foul mouthed professor lecturing about golden age crime literature. It’s easy to root for everyone to be killed, but that’s probably the point. I was just wishing the bloodshed would come sooner as I chanted the title to myself over and over again across 90 gruelling minutes.
Screens
Sunday, September 15th, Scotiabank 12, 9:00pm
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