Entertaining little movie. I can't come to any major complain in general. It was watchable and involving, had a very good pace and a convincing role of the lead criminal. Acting was fine. I also found the movie somehow natural and charming. I think that the director Tze Chun is a gifted filmmaker. My impression is that this movie wasn't made with some great budget, yet it is much more interesting than many blockbusters of the same genre, if you ask me. I also believe that Cold Comes the Night is a bit underrated on IMDb. So I can say I recommend this movie. My message to director would be - pretty nice work, keep on working!
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dusan-2217 January 2014
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dworldeater21 March 2014Cold Comes The Night is a dark thriller about a woman Chloe(Alice Eve) who lives and runs a rundown motel. To make ends meet and support her 10 year old daughter she is in business with Billy(Logan Marshall Green),a corrupt cop that deals smack and pimps hookers out of the motel. Billy(the least sympathetic character in this piece) takes advantage of Chloe's situation and at times is psychotic and brutal towards her. Bryan Cranston is a Russian mobster who spends the night at the motel. He loses his driver and the jeep that has a package he is obligated to deliver. Topo(Bryan Cranston) takes Chloe and her daughter Sophia hostage and sets out to retrieve his package at any cost. Chloe is the most sympathetic character in this film (with exception to her daughter obviously) and is mostly a victim of circumstance. Make no mistake everyone in this movie is bad, including Chole. Performances are real strong across the board and elevate this material greatly. Bryan Cranston is exceptional in this and stands out as a nearly blind, ruthless career criminal. As a huge fan of Breaking Bad myself, he was the reason to check out this downtrodden drama and I am not disappointed. CCTN overall really came across with the strong performances from the cast and sold what would otherwise be an average thriller. I am glad I gave this a look and hope to see Bryan Cranston play more dark characters like Topo and Walter White in the future.
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those_who_dig4 November 2016I assume I was drawn to 'Cold Comes the Night' for the same reason as many viewers: Bryan Cranston. I've worked my way through 'Breaking Bad' three times, and believe that even in a time of strong dramatic TV leads (e.g. Michael C. Hall, Jon Hamm, Charlie Hunnam), Cranston stood out as the greatest. I struggle to imagine even someone like Daniel Day-Lewis handling certain 'Breaking Bad' scenes as well as Cranston. I was therefore surprised to find that the strong performer in Tze Chun's 'Cold Comes the Night' is actually an actress I'd never heard of before: Alice Eve. I've long believed that a strong lead performance can elevate an otherwise bad film into mediocrity, and an otherwise mediocre film into a good one. Alice Eve shows the kind of protectiveness and desperation familiar to those who've seen Jennifer Lawrence in 'Winter's Bone', although she isn't as subtle as Lawrence. Although Eve's talents certainly make her scenes more enjoyable, I feel that the star attraction - Cranston - was woefully underused. His forced Russian accent stifles his ability to express himself, and his character's near-blindness could have been explored in far greater depth. These deficiencies prevent 'Cold Comes the Night' from rising above mediocrity. Tze Chun is a director I'm entirely (sans this film, of course) unfamiliar with. In bolder hands, 'Cold Comes the Night' could have been a very good crime drama. Unfortunately, the film doesn't escape the tropes of the genre, despite having sufficient scope and talent to do so.
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guchrisc25 September 2013Montreal lies due north of New York. To the south of Montreal are the Adirondack Mountains. It was here, at Saranac Lake in December 1887, that Robert Louis Stevenson first conceived of 'The Master Of Ballantrae', and decided to use the location for a setting in his novel. South of there lies Albany the capital city of the state of New York, and south of there is Sullivan County, where, in Bethel, was staged the famous Woodstock Festival of 1969.
Halfway between New York and Montreal, up the Hudson River, between Sullivan County and Albany, are the Catskill Mountains and Greene County. This is the setting for this film, but the Greene County of this film is a million miles away from the government in Albany or the hippies of Woodstock. Rather, the Greene County setting, is as dark as that Saranac setting of R.L. Stevenson.
After the credits, the film starts pleasantly enough with a mother sending her kid off to school. There follows a few short scenes which show effectively and efficiently the drudgery of the woman in her work. She works in a motel, as manager, chamber-maid, and sole employee, and she and her daughter live there too.
One night two men decide to stay in her motel. They are men on a mission. Not a mission from god, but rather their mission is to transport Mr Alfred Hitchcock's McGuffin.
The overnight stay at the motel starts a chain of events that quickly spiral out of control. At the centre of these events is Bryan Cranston, who plays one of the coldest characters ever seen since Tom Cruise in 'Collateral' (2004). Cold, ruthless, and unemotional, the words "I am a friend of your mothers", are truly terrifying.
The mother herself, played by Alice Eve, also shows no emotion or expression. She too is cold. She is portrayed as passive and submissive. This reviewer, whilst puzzled by this, feels that this must be a deliberate film-making decision; to show these characteristics as a learnt defence mechanism, which the mother has adopted to help her deal with her past and present circumstances.
At the heart of this film is the McGuffin, and the battle of wits between the male and female lead. Both leads are mostly laconic, and if you are looking for a film-noir with more twists than a pretzel, then you will not be disappointed by this film that fulfils the conventions and expectations of the genre.
Good support is given by the rest of the cast. Special mention should go to Ursula Parker, playing the daughter, who gives a very natural performance. Praise too, for Logan Marshall-Green, who plays a cop, and gives a very animated, heated, and passionate performance, which is the complete opposite of that of the two (cold) leads.
Some clever filming enables the audience to experience things through the eyes of the protagonists.
Viewers should not expect to learn everything. Some questions, and some plot-threads are deliberately left unexplained or vague. It is clear that some things are understated and left to our imagination.
If you liked 'Hard Eight' (1996), 'Collateral' (2004), or the recent 'Dead Man Down' from earlier this year, then this dark, tense, film is for you. Warning: Contains blood. 8/10. -
CowherPowerForever3 April 2014As with most DTV films(Direct to Video) the budgets are small, and the stories are usually thin. No difference here, except the acting is very good as Bryan Cranston leads this low budget film.
The story goes Chloe(played by the amazing Alice Eve) lives at a run down motel with her daughter. She runs the place and is trying to save enough money to get her out of there, and to someplace more acceptable. Early on in the film child services threatening to take her child away within two weeks in she does not move out of the motel complex. Topo played by the amazing Bryan Cranston is a near blind older man who is carrying out a job where he has to delivery a package of money. Helping him along the way is his sister's kid Quincy played by Robin Taylor, and tired after a long day on they road they decide to stop at a nearby motel for a few hours, which of course is the same motel run by Chole. Quincy decides he wants to spend the night with a prostitute and things quickly head south. Said prostitute ends up killing him, and the police quickly arrive on scene. Which presents a problem for Topo as the police take away the car they were driving in, and thus the package that was to be delivered.
Later in that day when Topo goes to check out of the motel he takes Chole hostage so he can get his money back. Chole is friends with local police officer Billy played by Logan Marshall-Green. Topo makes her pick and pick at Billy until he can get any information on his package. Eventually the story ends up at the police impound lot where Chole is sent in by Topo to retrieve the package that was suppose to be behind the radio. It was of course gone and so continues the wild chase of events for the remainder of the film.
Its not perfect or great, but if you are into low budget direct to video films as I am, it won't be a waste of time. Bryan Cranston and Alice Eve bring in top notch acting along the way as well. Overall if you can get your hands on this film it is worth a watch, no doubt about it. -
This film, dig it's title, is another one of those small budget films that impresses. This film works cause of it's story, and the characters goals amidst complications, and deadly situations, which I must say, does shed some surprises and character twists, though the film does have some predictabilities too. Not looking at all hot as she did in She's Out Of My League, Chloe (Alice Eve) and cutie pie daughter run a sleazy motel, out in the very cold sticks, of what could be Canada, though I must say the surrounds are quite pretty in an Autumn way. Some of the rooms function as bordello's too, where lone and sole vreliant Chloe trying to make ends meet, gets a cut of the prossie's money, where the notes aren't always clean. When an idiot nephew of an almost blind and ice cold hit-man, (Branston delivering a stone solid performance, the film's best that you kind of very much relate to Jean Reno's Leon in The Professional) goes too far with a pro hottie, in one of the rooms, and they both end up bloody victims, Branston has an impasse, when the jeep is taken in, as still having a suitcase of moolah inside. Lucky, Chloe is good friends, with the corrupt young sheriff, who kept the motel arrangement afloat. Sounds exciting. These situation movies are great because of how they engross the viewer, but this movie is far from great, but I must say had me hooked, initially the film's title is what did it. We even see a b..ch fight between Eve and the corrupt cop's old lady, which Branston quickly disposes of the situation. The cold unnerving music score is a plus too.
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bowmanblue5 July 2014Jees, what a let-down. After 'Breaking Bad' no one could deny that Bryan Cranston is a formidable actor, capable of amazing drama. And he signed on for this. Don't get me wrong – it's not bad-bad. It's just nowhere near what he should be starring in. He plays a half-blind Russian thief (with a slightly dodgy accent sometimes) who takes a single mother hostage in order to help him retrieve his loot.
That's about it. Alice Eve plays his hostage and she does it as well as the story will allow. The simple thing about this film is that it's just so run-of-the-mill it's barely worth talking about.
You won't hate it, but you won't remember it in a week's time either.
Bryan (and Alice), you're both capable of bigger and better things.
http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/ -
cosmo_tiger20 January 2014"Good help is hard to find." Chloe (Eve) is a hotel owner who is not only struggling to keep her life together but also to keep her daughter with her. Her day goes from bad to worse when after being threatened by child protective services a murder occurs in one of her rooms. As if that isn't bad enough a man named Topo (Cranston) knew the man who was killed and the vehicle that had his money was taken by the cops. He enlists the help of Chloe and the two of them set out to get the money back...or Amy will lose her daughter forever. There have been many many movies with this idea, someone loses something important to them and an innocent stranger must help them get it back. The difference in this one is...the cast. I'm not saying they were great I'm saying this one had a different cast. On the other hand though the cast is really one of the reasons why this is watchable. Alice Eve is believable as a woman who will do anything to save her daughter. Cranston tries his best to be a creepy tough guy but comes off as being flat. This is a movie that had potential but again became another generic "let's get my money or else" movie. Overall, not horrible but the movies Cash and Pressed were much better. I give this a B-.
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thegreatmaxster-105-64040119 February 2014Let me preface this with saying that I am a HUGE Bryan Cranston fan. He is a very talented actor, and his work in Breaking Bad cemented him in my mind as a masterful performer. However that said...
This film is at its best a poor attempt at trying to do a suspenseful film. The acting from Eve and Cranston is good, not great. *That accent!!! -Cringes-* Why on earth did Cranston have to be Russian? There was 0 point other than trying to make him seem "Cool" or maybe more menacing? It wasn't needed/didn't add to the story...
Also for a blind guy he does some rather amazing feats in this film that just defy belief, and as for Eve there are moments where she could very well escape her captor but simply chooses not to... It just completely defies all belief and makes things feel contrived and unrealistic. I had hoped for so much more.
Instead what I got was some great actors portraying crappy 2 dimensional characters.
-sigh- Oh well. -
Mrs. Shullivan and I were in the mood for a crime thriller genre film and so we popped in Bryan Cranston's starring role in Cold Comes the Night. Cranston plays a Russian courier named Topo who is gradually going blind and he in the middle of a road trip which has him couriering one million dollars to his Russian mobster boss. As his sight is near gone he requires someone to drive the car couriering the Russian mobs cash and his driver just can't be trusted as we discover.
His co-star is Alice Eve who plays a single mom named Chloe working as a motel night desk clerk in a seedy part of town strewn with ladies of the night who prefer to rent her motel rooms by the hour rather than by the night. Now Chloe has received an ultimatum by a case worker from Child Services that she needs to move her daughter to a more suitable living environment than hooker haven or Child Services will swoop in an take Chloe's daughter away from her.
So Topo and his brother-in-law dupe of a chauffeur played by Robin Lord Taylor (more widely known as Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin, on the hit 2014 TV series Gotham) make an over night stop over at Chloe's motel, rent separate rooms for the night, and then this thriller evolves....well sort of anyway.
I can't say that Bryan Cranston was right on character as the blind Russian mobster since his Russian dialect was as believable as maybe a Jimmy Fallon's Russian impersonation. Of course you have a corrupt cop named Billy Banks played by Logan Marshall-Green who is supposed to add some hype and action to this crime thriller but I thought his acting was way over the top. (Also a personal observation, what makes so many actors/actresses use a stage name comprised of both their divorced parents surnames as a way of commemorating both parents and think we will remember them? This is a pet peeve of mine. Hey actors/actresses, choose one surname or another and get over yourself.)
Without giving away too much of the movies plot (as there is not a lot of meat on this bone) Topo's cash goes missing and he will stop at nothing to find the scammers who have left him holding an empty bag that he must now otherwise report back to his Russian mob boss unless he recovers his stolen million dollars.
A two for one rating: Mrs. Shullivan gave the film a 4 out of 10 and since I am a sucker for crime thriller genres and have seen literally thousands of them I give it a slightly higher 6 out of 10 rating. It is worth a late night watch if you are having difficulty sleeping. If you are a crime thriller genre junkie as I am, I don't think you will be able to go to bed without finding out first how the film ends. It's not so great but does have a "so/so" story line to keep you hooked until the final two words are illuminated..."THE END". -
Seth_Rogue_One17 August 2014You have to struggle to find a less thrilling thriller than this.
I don't know if they were trying to go for originality when they decided to make the thrilling scenes as unthrilling as possible.
None of the actors are bad per se, they just don't act out very much, for instance a woman is being held under gunpoint threatened by a ruthless Russian assassin and she doesn't seem to be scared of that situation one bit, actually seem rather bored and just want to get it done and over with.
Bryan Cranston is not bad per se either but he's just plain boring, his character is dull and the fact that he's blind which could be interesting really turns out not to be.
Scenes drag on forever and I struggle to find reasons to why I should care about the bozos in the movie.
I read reviews on here saying that it's unconventional because it's realistic, oh really? So if someone threatens to murder you and your daughter you wouldn't be trembling your bones every second? I question your perception of reality if that is the case (no offence) -
doug_park20015 March 2014Nothing truly special or unusual: Just a really good crime drama that's a little too well-acted and realistic to be labeled a "thriller." COLD COMES the NIGHT is grimly riveting and constantly leaves you wondering what will happen next. Some layers, twists, and reversals, but it's still very easy to follow and, therefore, may be a little too episodic and simple for some tastes.
CCN has a minimalistic low-budget appeal to it. We don't know a whole lot about the various players in the smaller town Mid-Atlantic setting. Nevertheless, it shows us all we really need to know. Violent, disturbing, but without cheap schlocky gore. I kept thinking, "This is how real murders must look and, especially, sound." Alice Eve gives a plain yet memorable performance as Chloe, a tough but compassionate single mother who manages the sleazy motel where all the trouble starts. The other actors do likewise in their roles. The script and cinematography are similarly real. Nice ending. Good, fitting soundtrack too. Though it doesn't try for anything big, COLD COMES the NIGHT accomplishes all it sets out to do and is a very watchable little film. -
larrys36 March 2014This is not a great movie, nor does it profess to be, but I've seen far worse. It can be a bleak and violent noir, and if one looks too hard beneath the cracks of the plot, you might conclude that a lot of this is not believable. However, it maintained a decent air of tension throughout the film, and I was interested in how it would turn out.
Set in upstate New York, it stars two actors whom I like quite a lot in Alice Eve and Bryan Cranston. Eve portrays Chloe, who manages and is part-owner of a seedy motel frequented by prostitutes and drug users. She's in danger of losing custody of her young daughter Sophia (Ursula Parker) to the State, unless she moves her to a more suitable environment.
Cranston plays Topo (sporting a terrible foreign accent), who's going blind but acting as a "mule' transporting a great deal of cash to Canada with his nephew Quincy. However, when they get two separate rooms for the night at Chloe's motel, Quincy gets into an altercation with a prostitute and they're both killed.
When the police impound Quincy's Jeep as evidence, Topo forces Chloe to try and retrieve the money, which had been stashed behind the radio, or he will kill her daughter. Chloe's partner in the motel is Billy, believably portrayed by Logan Marshall Green, who's a wacko and crooked cop and may have already stolen the money out of the impounded Jeep.
From this point, they'll be plenty of murder and mayhem to come. I thought it all ended up in a fairly credible way.
All in all, this film, directed by Tze Chen, was a fairly decent escape flick, if you don't mind the violence and can overlook the plot holes. -
Turfseer8 January 2014Here's a new indie that's billed as a neo-noir. I've given away a few points about the plot, so I suggest you wait until you see the film before reading this review. It stars Bryan Cranston of 'Breaking Bad' fame, and that's probably the reason why the film was able to obtain financing. Set in Greene County, New York, it concerns Chloe, a financially strapped motel owner, who has a young daughter. Chloe must resort to renting out some of the rooms to prostitutes to support herself and when a social services worker comes by and threatens to take custody of her daughter due to the bad environment they're forced to live in, she finds herself in crisis mode.
The bigger crisis is just around the corner when Cranston, as Topo, a legally blind drug mule shows up at the motel with his unstable nephew. At this juncture in the film, one realizes this is the beginning of many suspensions of disbelief the audience will be forced to put up with. For starters, why would a legally blind enforcer such as this Topo character, actually consider remaining in the business? He's dealing with some ruthless characters, and must depend on an unreliable, moronic nephew to drive him around (I didn't buy it when Topo says "good help is hard to find", referring to his accomplice).
As it turns out, the nephew shacks up with a prostitute in one of the other motel rooms and ends up getting himself killed. When the police impound the vehicle, Topo is forced to kidnap Chloe, since it's her former boyfriend, Billy, a local police officer, who ends up stealing the cash from the vehicle Topo was transporting up to Canada.
After Topo discovers the theft, a series of improbable events unfold. One of those events involves the shooting of Billy's girlfriend (Topo ties Billy up instead of killing him). Chloe tries to make a deal with Topo to split the loot but he refuses; but meanwhile, she's kept a few rolls of bills for herself.
When Topo brings the cash to his employers, they discover there's money missing (the loot Chloe kept). Somehow, Topo is able to blast these miscreants while they have guns pointed at him inside the limousine in a dark garage.
If this isn't incredible enough, the brutal Topo suddenly has a change of heart toward Chloe. He reasons that had she not taken the money, he would not have been put in a situation where he had to finish off the bad guy drug dealers. Since he got lucky and was successful, he suddenly becomes generous toward her (I suppose what is being illustrated here is the idea of 'honor amongst thieves'). Yes, Topo, inexplicably hands Chloe, half the cash (now Topo 'admires' the gutsy Chloe). I, of course, didn't buy it for a minute but of course, this is 'the movies'.
I won't go into the rest of the plot but I will say that an over-the-top Billy tries to get the last word in, with negative results. Maybe another problem with the script is that there's really no back story to explain the anomaly of a legally blind, middle-aged drug courier or the presence of an out of control, rogue cop. In other words, a few extra details about the characters (particularly Topo), might have enhanced the overall narrative.
What you can do is root for the beleaguered Chloe, played by tough as nails, Alice Eve. Less successful is Cranston, whose fake Eastern European accent, proves less than convincing.
'Cold Comes the Night' is a serviceable thriller which should prove more interesting than your typical comic book action hero flick. Nonetheless, this is a film that also sacrifices verisimilitude for a series of plot contrivances, that only an uncritical patron will tolerate. -
. . . which is no surprise, as COLD COMES THE NIGHT apparently was filmed near the U.S.-Canadian border and is copyrighted by an outfit called "Manitoba Project," which sounds about as Canadian as they come. Rather than dwelling on how many Mounties it takes to screw a light bulb, or whether even half of Canadian crimes result in convictions, maybe a word is in order about COLD COMES THE NIGHT. There are two main law enforcement figures among the main cast of characters: Deputy Billy (yup, at least he's not named Dewey) and a detective from somewhere or other. Billy behaves like a textbook schizophrenic, which one assumes would pass unnoticed up Sasketoon way; not so much in America, however. The detective's head is thicker than a post, which is why the manager of the local motel\bordello--Chloe--has no trouble starting a new life with hundreds of thousands in Mob cash, though it's clear Chloe would be the dullest knife in the drawer in an authentic American kitchen. When Americans make films in America, the first rule of thumb is that NOBODY lives happily ever after on money stolen from the Mob. I've seen many, many worse Canadian productions than COLD COMES THE NIGHT, but be forewarned: if you liked FARGO, RESERVOIR DOGS, or PULP FICTION, you'll probably think COLD COMES THE NIGHT belongs with the kindergarten set.
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rbrb13 December 2014This is a decent watchable thriller.
A financially struggling mother(with a young daughter) is running a motel which caters for low lives when some very unsavory characters enter their lives and make things even worse.......
One of the "baddies" is an actor called Bryan Cranston who absolutely steals the show. He has the best line in the picture the tongue in cheek: "Hard to get decent help"
Though the eventual outcome of the story is very predicable and unoriginal, I lasted to the end so can award a respectable:
6/10 -
invisiblephrend12 February 2019So like 99% of the people who watched this movie, I was invested in checking out Bryan Cranston's performance. I'm a huge BB fanboy and the trailer for this film seemed decent enough, but I feel like Cranston must have not gotten a full copy of the script (or a voice coach) before accepting this role. The writing is just absolutely atrocious. 2-dimensional characters, tons of plot holes, and the mother has NUMEROUS chances to escape her captor. At one point she's even standing behind him while he's sitting in a chair. It was more than plausible for her to pick up any of the several blunt objects in the room and try to knock him out.
Every character is so painfully dumb, CinemaSins would have an absolute field day with those details alone. A vicious Russian mobster kidnaps a mother & daughter, threatening to murder them both if they try to escape, but then inexplicably has a change of heart when attempting to steal a meager $2000 from her. I mean literally out of nowhere he suddenly forms a conscience for God only knows why. If that wasn't bad enough, he then spares the life of a dirty cop who knows what he looks like and whose wife he just murdered in cold blood. Yeah, that totally makes sense.
But here's the cherry on top: the mother, whose SOLE MOTIVATION throughout the entire movie is to protect her daughter from a murderous sociopath, figures it's no big deal if she just helps herself to stealing $50,000 from the Russian mafia. And does she immediately pack up their essentials and skip town like a bat out of Hell for making such a reckless move. NO. Instead, she just stays home. Yes, seriously. She stays home! She apparently stays there for so long that it leaves enough time for both the mobster and the dirty cop to arrive there and try to deal out their vengeance. And by the time they get there (which at the very least is hours later), she has barely even started packing. What in the actual Hell?
The acting was decent enough, but it seems like as the film progressed actors were slowly realizing that the story was just too ridiculous to take seriously. Like they were just trying to get through their lines and get this crapfest over with. It's worth watching if you want to learn how a decent cast, directing, and cinematography is already doomed from the start without a decent script. Otherwise it's a hard pass. -
Wizard-811 March 2014Some people like this movie, while others have found issues with it. As for me, while I wouldn't call the movie perfect, I found myself interested with what was going on right to the end. Yes, there are some nagging questions that are never answered, like why the central female character didn't put her money in a bank, or why she couldn't find a new place to live when she owned a motel. And there are a few unbelievable decisions by the characters - for example, TWO characters each have a scene when they don't repeatedly hit a person threatening them. But despite these problems, there is a lot to enjoy here. The acting is solid, not just by Bryan Cranston but also the no name supporting cast. The story has some good (and believable) twists and turns, enough that I could not predict what would happen at the end. And the production values are good for what had to be a low budget. The movie is 78 minutes of good entertainment. Yes, I know the running time is 90 minutes. That's because the end credits run a whopping TWELVE MINUTES! Still, you don't have to sit through them, so that's a minor quibble.
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mario_c2 March 2014It's clearly a low cost movie, but it's well done! Well produced and acted. COLD COMES THE NIGHT is a little story about money, crime and betrayal where nobody can be claimed as innocent Money is the centre of the entire plot and what a person can do for money is its main message In fact, CHLOE (played by Alice Eve), the main character of this movie, seems, at the beginning, just a "normal" mother which has a hard life to sustain her daughter (and herself) working in a Motel as a receptionist; but along the movie we see she's as manipulative, greedy and criminal as the mafia's guy (TOPO, played by Bryan Craston) or the corrupt cop (BILLY, played Logan Marshall-Green), her ex-boyfriend. During the plot she proves she can do everything for money and even the excuse that it's all in the name of her daughter – to get some money to start a new life and give her better life conditions – seems a very little excuse to me. She did the same crimes for money as the other guys I did appreciate this movie because it was quite entertaining, well-acted, and tells us a dark story about money and corruption in a very simple but realistic way.
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Buddy-5113 April 2014After flying high for five brilliant seasons on TV's "Breaking Bad," Bryan Cranston lands with a thud on the big screen in "Cold Comes the Night," a murky and undistinguished indie crime drama written by Tze Chun, Osgood Perkins and Nick Smith and directed by Chun. It's unclear what the overall purpose of the movie is; we just know that it must be a "serious" work because nobody ever smiles and the sun never comes out.
Chloe (Alice Eve) is a streetwise single mom who runs a motel where the local prostitutes and drug dealers regularly come to transact their business and sell their wares. Indeed, the locale is so questionable that child services is threatening to take Chloe's daughter away from her if she doesn't hightail her to a more appropriate place toot sweet. One of the motel's guests is a half blind hit man named Topo (Cranston) who finds himself stuck at the place after his assistant/nephew is involved in a double homicide and some important money goes missing. Topo suspects that Chloe may know the whereabouts of the loot, but the spunky Chloe figures she has little to lose in a high stakes gamble with fate. And thus the game is on Eventually, so many bodies have piled up at Chloe's little roadside establishment that even the Bates Motel starts looking like a wiser lodging option for any weary traveler passing through the region.
Cranston spends most of his time growling and scowling, while continually dropping his articles in a vain attempt at a Russian accent (although even that isn't done with any real consistency). It's a bit like Walter White (albeit with hair) playing at being Gus Fring - though with little of the complexity or charm of either of those two "Breaking Bad" characters. Eve suggests she might be worth watching in a role worth playing. This is not it. -
srdjan_veljkovic16 January 2016Lately, action/thriller movies are full of these strong women who are totally unreal. When this trend started, it was new, thus interesting and, when pushed to extreme, this can be interesting any time (e.g. Kill Bill). But, in general, it's getting old.
Here's a movie that gives a believable strong woman. Only once, towards the end, when the authors ran out of ideas, does she show unbelievable strength in a fight with a big guy. Also, she doesn't go towards the cliché of femme-fatale, using her looks to get what she wants.
I don't really care if the main character is a man or a woman, but, in current state of affairs, this is refreshing.
Other than that, the film is OK. Alice Eve shows she can act and not just look pretty, and the main villain (more of an anti-hero) does his job adequately. Others are not as good, but, not really bad.
The story and it plots and twists are a little too much, but OK. It's actually fine until the last part, where, as mentioned above, authors run out of ideas. The last part spoils it a little, but, it's still OK.
There is a sense that it could have been at least a little better -
paulclaassen2 January 2019This is one of those films I didn't find bad, but not special either, and in time probably will be forgotten. It plays like a TV movie or an episode from an 80s detective series. Nothing grabbed me. There are a few twists towards the end, but still nothing to write home about.
Alice Eve was pretty good as the motel owner, but Ursula Parker was very bad as her daughter. Thank goodness she was only in the film a few moments. Logan-Marshall Green was incredible, although we only got to see his full potential during the film's climax. Bryan Cranston was ok as the villain, but that terrible accent!!! Have mercy on my ears!
The rest of the film was standard fare we've seen before with a predictable - yet satisfying - ending. Nothing about the film's title will make me remember this. -
rlyonsii16 January 2014For me this movie was very moving from the beginning. I personally have never seen Alice Eve in a movie where she wasn't playing the "hot" girl for lack of a better term. Even in Big Nothing (which if you haven't seen I highly recommend), she was in a way set as the "hot" girl. Same as ATM for any of you fellow watch to many movie folk like myself.
From the get go she played a persona unlike any other I have seen her do so I was a bit skeptic going in. Hardly any making, acting very depressed and withdrawn from life. Her being withdrawn I believe was completely intention because it set up the characteristics needed for the 2nd half of the film.
Bryan Cranston was absolutely amazing in his portrayal of Topo. I have not seen a simple hit-man have such depth since iceman. Chloe hits it right on the head when she says "What is a hit-man supposed to do when he is almost completely blind."
I followed the movie from beginning to end and the only slow spot that didn't quite jibe with me was the very last part of the film. Without giving away to much the ending I felt the fate of Topo was rather misplaced. A character that displayed so much finesse and ability, should have known someone that had a grudge for him in that town would be looking for him.
Fans of a good keep you guessing will love this movie and everyone else like it just as well. I suggest picking up and giving it a shot, so ENJOY!
rlyonsii.net -
westsideschl11 March 2014Really accomplished acting especially by our motel owner (If she owns the motel why is she so broke?) Alice Eve as Chloe (popular female film name these past several years) and Bryan Cranston as the Russian bad person (per that stereotype). Engaging creatively written crime thriller with the exception of an over-hyped bad cop and the usual lost illegal money (must be safer ways to transfer money from the US to Canada).
Best line (appropriately ending the movie) by 8 year old daughter to mom (meant in a fun way), "Mommy, you're crazy!". Mom replies (also meant in a fun way), "I know."
Best stunt double: HHH Duck for Mr. Jones the turtle. I would tell you what HHH stands for but it's a bit x rated. -
gvzfs18 February 2014What's to like ? Mood intense and stale at times grotty and unforgiving at other times when Russian mobster near blind speaks ... too much cliché.
Frame plot and execution ? Some poor choices is being made. As for realism it workes rather convincingly. It has no real action moments, but I keep thinking John Woo. Perhaps because of the stand-offs that happen between the trio of power and interests: Cop - Motel mother - Russian Mobster
When would it be any better ? In the frame and plot ? Not much room for any further development in the characters.