Cut
Bank (2014/Lionsgate DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B Film: C
Cut
Bank is an interesting thriller in the vein of a Coen Brothers
film (Blood Simple meets Fargo), though doesn't quite
reach those heights. Featuring an all star cast including Liam
Hemsworth, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, Oliver Platt, Bruce Dern,
and Billy Bob Thorton, the performances are obviously pretty strong.
So how did this film end up so under the radar?
Dwayne
McLaren (Liam Hemsworth) dreams about escaping small town life in Cut
Bank, Montana, billed as 'the coldest spot in the nation', with his
vivacious girlfriend Cassandra (Teresa Palmer). When Dwayne
witnesses an awful crime, he tries to leverage a bad situation into a
scheme to get rich quickly but he finds that fate and an unruly
accomplice are working against him. Thrust into the middle of a
police investigation spearheaded by the local sheriff (John
Malkovich), everything goes from bad to worse in this all-American
thriller.
From
the Director of a few episodes of the Fargo TV series, Matt
Shakman, the parallels to the Coen Brothers becomes more and more
evident as the film progresses. Many critics slammed the film for
being too derivative and at times predictable, which it is. Still,
the veteran actors take hold and bring us performances that make some
of the lesser developed plot points of the film excusable.
Presented
in standard definition with an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of
2.40:1 and a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track, the film looks fine on
DVD but will definitely be a more enjoyable experience on Blu-ray
(which is available from Lionsgate). Extras include a Making Of,
Deleted Scenes and a commentary.
All
in all if you are a Coen Brothers fan or are looking for a good crime
caper, you can do worse than Cut Bank. The solid cast is
definitely worth watching, even if some parts feel a bit predictable.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
