Note: Minor spoilers throughout, but will keep them to a minimum.
I don't normally get into this type of movie, but due to the untimely passing of Anton Yelchin a few weeks ago, I decided to give it a go from hearing other reviews of the movie. It also didn't end up being quite what I thought it was, as I thought it was a horror/psychological movie, but I don't think I would quite put it in that category. I was thinking Hostel or maybe Saw, but I feel like it came off more like a survival/psychological movie, like Deliverance. I guess it was somewhere in the middle of the two types of movies, as there were aspects from each type throughout.
The film follows an indie band that is traveling around trying to make their mark, without becoming too famous. They do an interview for a guy, and then he tells them that he show has been cancelled, so they are out of a job. With no money and no gig, the guy throws them a bone and gets them a gig at a club out in the middle of nowhere, with some shady clientele. After their set, but before they can leave, they witness a murder, and so the club owner (played by the fantastic Patrick Stewart) spends the rest of the movie trying to get rid of them so they don't tell the cops. Locked inside the building, they get locked into a stalemate between the club owner and his men.
First off, the movie started a little slow for me. They were developing the characters a bit, but I didn't think it was that terribly necessary for this type of movie. It was a good half hour in before anything really happens and you start to see that things are going to go south rather quickly for them. The movie is only an hour and a half, and I guess they needed to fill some time at the beginning, but I just felt like I was waiting on something to happen for longer than I thought I should.
The acting in the movie was okay, but most of the actors were just kind of throw away actors anyway, so I guess I didn't expect a whole lot from most of them. Anton Yelchin and Patrick Stewart both did a really good job, being the main stars in the film, but nobody else really stood out to me very much. They all did their part well enough, they just weren't very memorable, and for those that met their untimely demise, I really didn't care that much.
Once the movie got rolling, there were some pretty intense moments. I was really drawn in as the stand off started to take place and you were seeing both sides try to jockey for position over the other side. It was a pretty good back and forth for a while, but then as things started to break down, that tension was throw off to the side for just a quick, violent moment. Nothing terribly over the top, but just sort of a lot of buildup to just off people rather quickly.
I wasn't that terribly impressed at the end, especially with the ending that seemed to come about as abrupt as a lot of the scenes I mentioned above, but I also am not normally that into this genre of movie. Based on that, I was interested and was sucked in a bit through the middle part, so I would say that it stood out to me more than a lot of other movies in this genre. If you are a big fan of this type of movie, I do think it was done pretty well and is well worth the watch, but it wasn't something I will be dwelling on much after the credits have gotten done rolling.
My rating for the film is 6/10
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