As "Crisis" (2021 release; 118 min.) opens, we are reminded the film is "Inspired by True Events". We find ourselves at the "US/Canada Border, 40 Miles South of Montreal", where a dope smuggler is trying to reach the US border, but he is intercepted by Canadian police. We shift to "Detroit, Michigan", where we get to know several DEA guys, speculating on how the Canadian police became aware of the smuggler. In a separate story line, we get to know Claire at an NA meeting, She has a 16 yr.old son. In yet another story line, we are introduced to the Big Pharma makers of Klaralon, a new pain killer that supoosedly is entirely non-addictive. At this point we are 10 min. into the film, but to tell you more of the plot would not only spoil your viewing experience, but frankly it'd be pretty much impossible to do...
Couple of comments: this is the new film from writer-producer-director Nicholas Jarecki, whose prior film, 2012's "Arbitrage", was an unexpected delight (starring a latter day Richard Gere in top form). Here Jarecki wants to bring an international opioids crime drama of the highest order. I regret to inform you sadly the film simply misfires, and for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the plot is byzantine in its complexity and frankly impossible to follow. After half an hour, I couldn't make heads or tails of it, leaving me frustrated and even annoyed. Who are the good guys? and the bad guys? are the DEA guys dirty? is the university reseacher dirty? Haven't a clue. I don't mind being led astray in a movie's script, but not when halfway into the film I truly have no idea what I'm watching. Then there are the acting performances. which are mostly sub-par, none more so than Evangeline Lilly (as the mother of the 16 yr. old). Watch her reaction to when she receives an update from the cops about her missing son. Utterly pathetic and completely unbelievable. Gary Oldman (as the university researcher) is a little better, but just barely. Armie Hammer and Greg Kinnear seem to be sleepwalking through it all. But not all is lost: the movie's photogtraphy is great, and there is a nice electronic score, courtesy of Raphael Reed. It's regretfully not enough to save the movie, which feels like a wanna-be "Traffic" drug drama for this day and age, but falls well short of that one.
"Crisis" opened in theaters a week ago, and I finally went to see it this weekend. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended surprisingly well: I counted a good 15 people, which is far more than the typical 5 to 10 attendants at most movies I've seen in these still ongoing COVID-19 times. The overall movieplex was eerily empty, though. I honestly don't know how movie theaters can operate profitably like that. All that aside, based on Nicholas Jarecki's involvement with this, I had high hopes for "Crisis" and hence I feel quite disappointed with this film. But of course don't take my words for it, and I encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
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