The Standoff at Sparrow Creek

Sometimes indie films can be a little self indulgent and wayward but not so here. This is an assured and confident piece of work from a first time feature director and I will be looking out for more of his work.

Essentially a one set multi player piece held together by some taut direction and solid performances by Dale & Mulkey in particular, which doesn't try to be too clever.

The opening scenes place us in an unfolding story without exposition and treats the audience as intelligent beings who will follow along and listen and learn - great🙂 The plot has a couple of twists but nothing unreal and the denouement is tragic and moving. As a commentary on the place America currently finds itself in, particularly after the January events in the capital, it is apt and believable.

At 90 something minutes this well worth the investment, give it a go.

Seems more like a play than a movie and is well enough acted. I liked the performance of young Ned Stark Robert Aramayo who for me was the standout with his small contribution to the story.

The tale overall was pretty implausible but it made an interesting 90 minutes. Certainly not as brilliant as some of the reviews say and the ending was a bit daft.

Still worth a watch all the same.

Militia members gather underground in the aftermath of a mass shooting to discover something disturbing. An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the type used in the attack, is missing from their cache. Interrogations ensue, tempers flare and threats fly as they try to discover who among them knows something before the police arrive. Confusion, mistrust and fear spike as word comes that an extensive plot is underway and neighboring militias are involved in something ominous. Everything depends on where and who the information comes from and truth is in short supply.

This fast flowing and gripping gun culture thriller contains a wonderful cast of characters including a lone wolf, informant, tech geek, ex police officer, quirky and enigmatic leader, old timer and white supremacist with a criminal past. Lines are delivered like rifle fire and it takes concentration to follow the action. There is pleasing depth in this dialogue and intriguing mystery about where the conversations will take the story. Actions seem plausible and the actors are more than convincing. Lots of testosterone and guttural grunting all around. The film was shot in Dallas. This was according to the director who was at this world premiere and midnight madness showing of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.

For those who love stage-liked story telling, this one is good. But obviously not for everyone. It is enjoyable and seriously well-written.

I'm a big fan of single-location mystery/thrillers. They have produced some of my favourite movies in fact over the years. There's just something about them. I think it stems down to the fact that the director doesn't have the variety in locations to drive his movie, so he has to use the story and dialogue to carry things. Give me that any day of the week. 'The Standoff at Sparrow Creek' won't go down in the category of greats, but it's a pretty solid effort from a debut filmmaker.

The film is very dark for a large majority of the runtime. It can be quite difficult to tell what exactly is going on at certain points. There's a decent sized cast for a clearly low-budget film. Some of the characters are really interesting, others not so much. The interesting ones luckily have the most screen time and carry the weaker ones when they share a scene.

There are some really strong lines of dialogue in this movie too. Some of them caught me off-guard by just how thought-provoking they were. They film does sometimes struggle to justify its already short runtime and it feels like things are being stretched out just a little at times. All in all though I had a good time with 'The Standoff at Sparrow Creek' and if this is where writer/director Henry Dunham is starting his career then the sky is the limit.