Very
low-budget thriller directed, co-written by and starring Ryan Phillippe. He plays a mid-level Hollywood actor who sets
off alone to the Bayou to star in an independent film. He’s not sure what he’s gotten himself into,
and is even more confused when he is waylaid on the way to his first day of
shooting by a pair of angry rednecks who proceed to beat and maim him and chain
him up in a backwoods shack. There isn’t
a ton of suspense as you know how these things play out if you’ve seen any of
the hundreds of similar films out there; i.e. the hero will endure torment and
humiliation and most likely have to turn a little savage himself in order to
prevail and – (if he survives) – will be irrevocably changed by the
ordeal. We find out pretty much
immediately that the chief captor is the angry husband of one of the actor’s
many romantic conquests, so there isn’t much subtle or mysterious going on
there either. The villains are basically
creeps who you know are going to die; it’s only a matter of time. There is a little bit (not a lot, but a
little) of pathos in the story of the younger captor, who is just a simple rube
who craves attention and has been a victim in his own way too. None of it really goes anywhere deep or
original, and the style is as journeyman as can be. To Phillippe’s credit, the film somehow
manages to not come off as a mere vanity project. It’s clear he wants to start earning a name
as a director, and rather than making a pretentious or expensive melodrama,
opted to demonstrate that he can pull off a modest genre piece with
competence. That’s admirable, but I
would like it more if he’d put some artistry – or at least some heart – into it
as well. After all, John Carpenter was
in no better circumstances when he made Assault
on Precinct 13, but he managed to turn it into a minimalist masterpiece
anyway.
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