Because Pam "hated each minute of this movie more than the one before," I am taking the lead on our review. I did not like the movie at all, and it is a testament to our Noni completist ambitions that either of us got past the opening sequence. Everything about IMDb synopsis would normally serve to keep this film far from Casa Hayes-Boh -- especially the words "meth" and the suggestion that Sly Stallone is now a writer.
A former DEA agent moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord.
Director:
Gary FlederEverything except the last two words, of course. Noni got through this, so we did, too.
We watch a lot of the old vampire-with-a-soul series Angel, so we are used to an implausibly flawless protagonist who simply cannot lose in hand-to-hand combat. But when that person and his assailants are mortals, it somehow becomes more difficult to watch the ever-increasing mayhem.
There is something of a plot -- a gothic Southern story -- involving levels of criminal conspiracies and shifting alliances among very bad people.
Where does Winona come into this? Very late, and in a relatively small role. She is James Franco's moll -- an archaic name for a gangster's girlfriend that I prefer to any of the meth-culture equivalents used in the film -- who is put in the position of intermediary between a ruthless, powerful drug lord (her boyfriend) and an even more ruthless, powerful drug lord bent on revenge against that former agent. It is Noni's character who has a flicker of conscience that does not exactly save the day, but that allows for our flawless hero to do so.
Skip this unless you like predictable action flicks with a lot of violence. Or you are a Noni nut.
Final verdict (for Noni's role, not the overall film): split decision, rounding up to two croquet balls.
