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With: Shiloh Fernandez, Stephen Dorff, John Travolta, Ashley Benson, Kevin Dillon, Timothy V. Murphy, Robert Miano, Tia DiMartino
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Written by: Nicholas Maggio, based on a story by Rob Healy
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Directed by: Nicholas Maggio
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MPAA Rating: R for violence, and language throughout
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Running Time: 112
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Date: 08/04/2023
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Cold Minor
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
After a familiar start, this unpromising crime drama slowly, surprisingly reveals itself as a potent exercise in existentialism, a thoughtful rumination on guilt and the dying of the American Dream.
Shelby Conners (Shiloh Fernandez) struggles to make ends meet for his wife (Ashley Benson) and young daughter Mila (Tia DiMartino) in their Southern small town. His brother-in-law Trey (Kevin Dillon) comes to him with a proposition. There's a "pill mill" doling out prescription pain medicines to locals, which makes tons of money and is apparently not well-guarded. Trey proposes a robbery. Shelby refuses, but after losing his job as a truck driver, sees no other choice.
It turns out that the operation is actually run by a powerful mob boss, and the robbery goes badly. Soon Clayton Minor (Stephen Dorff), a mob enforcer, turns up and kills Trey. Shelby learns that Clayton is holding his family hostage and is now required to help Clayton erase every trace of the crime. Meanwhile, Shelby's uncle, Sheriff Bodie Davis (John Travolta) is on the robbers' trail.
Let's face it. The "botched robbery" description, and the "B" level cast — Dillon especially has been in some low-budget stinkeroos lately (see A Day to Die or Hot Seat for two heinous examples) — does not inspire confidence. But Mob Land takes off when Dorff's Clayton Minor arrives on the scene. He's a nihilist from New Orleans, but also a student of human nature, seemingly curious about the inner lives of all the locals. His gravel-hard surface and the nature of his questions and ideas are a fascinating juxtaposition. Indeed, the very reason he doesn't kill Shelby is that he is curious about Shelby's reasons for the robbery, and his guilt.
To top it off, Travolta gives one of his most lovable performances as the avuncular sheriff, whose slow, polite drawl belies a twinkle of intelligence in his eyes. Mob Land is a writing and directing debut by Nicholas Maggio, and if he can learn to keep from shaking the camera during action scenes — as he unfortunately does here — it will be interesting to see what he does next.
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