WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Wrong choices. We all make them, we all have to live often with the consequences of those actions, or if given opportunity, make things right again. This is especially true when those who you’ve wronged happen to be members of the Russian Mob! Regular suburban couple, Greg and Linda Shaffer (David Maldonado & Jennifer Rodgers) are striving to make their restaurant business a success, but facing the financial hardship that comes with ownership. Desperate to make ends meet and stay afloat, a random passing through the restaurant one day of a friend, Dan (Tim Anderson), and the events following his quick departure and fate afterwards, brings about an unexpected and troublesome scenario involving a briefcase left at the Shaffer’s business.
The contents of said briefcase–money. A LOT of money. Disputing the moral and logistical options available to them regarding the funds, Greg & Linda decide no one is coming to claim it, and start making improvements to their own lives. This seems like a godsend, with the ability to pay off bills, make their struggling business seem profitable, and even giving Linda a chance to gain some traction against a snobby neighbor, Angela (Heather Williams). However, initially unbeknownst to them, two local members of the Russian Mob, Viktor & Sacha (Neal Kodinsky & Elsa Marquez), are slowly, savagely, and relentlessly tracking down where their money is. Knowing the jig is up, how far will Greg & Linda have to go to protect family and their very lives?
Next, my Mind:
Interestingly enough, life has not actually been good for the Russian Mob when it comes to films! They seem to have a habit of taking on men with last names like Wick and McCall and thinking they have the upper hand, but instead find out yeah, not so much! How the Russians fare against a normal suburban couple will be left to you watching this simply executed, neatly filmed, tension-laced indie thriller in order to find out. In the meantime, director R. Clay Ayers has taken a genre and overall subject matter covered many a time, but made it unique in bringing the story into middle-class America. And this benefits what could have been a, frankly, clichéd effort.
The casting is very solid, especially in that the normal couple known as the Shaffers is actually portrayed by Maldonado and Rodgers quite, well, normally! They aren’t these models or picture perfect cut-outs, but rather two talented individuals who have the right look to BE your straight-up American, working-class people facing extreme circumstances, and this serves the film well and believably for this reviewer. Likewise, Kodinsky & Marquez seem to relish the menace exuded by their intensely purpose-driven Viktor & Sacha, enforcers who can exact cruel punishment as well as instill the necessary fear to accomplish their task at the behest of their ruthless boss, Andrei (Eric Reinholt).
But the battle of both force and will that ensues during the film’s middle and final sections, more to illustrate some incredible fortitude on the part of Greg & Linda, is really the lifeblood of this indie effort. And when are people, inadvertently or not, simply going to stop messing with the Mob?
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
