Predrag
This low budget, award winning Indie film is a bitter and gritty crime thriller, not for the faint hearted. It involves a slow witted but good hearted southern sheriff (Paxton) of a small town, who's a bit too talky and a bit too slow witted for his own good. He gets in over his head tangling with on-the-lam, murderous drug dealing thugs escaping from Los Angeles and heading to his small, rural town of Star City, Arkansas, where they plan to hide out at friend's house. This film quickly becomes chilling, horrific and riveting. The female drug dealer named Fantasia, a sultry fox of a black woman, has a terrible secret that complicates the entire situation in this southern crime tale. Billy Bob Thornton's screenplay is superb, as is his acting (and that of his co-stars including Michael Beech and Bill Paxton), which helps us identify, if not quite like the character 'Ray'. The haunting climax aided by a well used blues soundtrack is also worthy of specific recognition, but in short this movie will not disappoint any audience appreciating an interesting story.Modelled on a High Noon good guys Vs bad guys like destiny, narrative also has little observations on racism and the class divide between big city America and small town Americana. Sly little reveals in the script such as a policeman's alcohol problem show good attention to detail by the makers. While Franklin has a wonderful way with his camera, only revealing enough for us to fill in the blanks, and often his camera is used as a character POV device, with close ups and cuts blending seamlessly with mood of the story. The cast are uniformly strong, with the stand outs Williams, Paxton and Thornton reaching down deep to give their respective characters some stunning grittiness, doling out sadness, misguidedness and rage with a believability that's as impressive as it is riveting to watch.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.
patrick powell
Some films just slip, for whatever reason, below the radar. We get any amount of top-budget, CGI-heavy dreck which go on to catch the headline - albeit for a week or two - but other films, such as One False Move, which proudly stands head and shoulders over its rivals is barely noticed.The story is simple and effectively told. There are no false histrionics, there is no grandstanding, the violence and horrific murders are not celebrated in that god-awful balletic way favoured by Tarantino and his ilk, and the whole thing is presented to the viewer on the assumption that the viewer has a brain.Yet despite its undoubted quality One False Move slips past and is 'just another film'. It's strength is that it is character-driven and people talk and behave like real people. It manages to convey the complexity of people: one of a trio who ripped off a drug dealer and six people are horrifically killed in the whole episode spares a young lad and saves him from certain death at the hands of her more sadistic accomplices, then goes on to kill a state trooper in cold blood.A small-town sheriff who yearns for greater things is mortified when he overhears the two big-shot cops from LA laughing at him behind his back. It spurs him on to try to be a hero and apprehend two of the gang all on his own. He does so, but at the cost of three lives and gets badly injured himself. All in all he might have got the men, but it is all just a bloody mess. The performances are all good ones, and the direction, camera-work and editing all add the sense of dread and help heighten the tension.The director is Carl Franklin who made another great but overlooked film in Devil In A Blue Dress. If you are able to catch this - though I don't know how because it doesn't seem to be shown on TV - do so. You won't regret spending time on what is something of a gem.
Maziun
I think this movie was made outside mainstream by some little studio . I expected some cheap B-thriller and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a solid thriller . It's not a movie driven by twists, but by characters . It succeeds , because the direction is top notch . The director was able to create some unnerving moments of true tension and when the violence kicks in it's a really painful (emotionally ) experience. This is more of a character driven story not by twists.Also , almost the whole movie resolves around Bill Pulman ("Predator 2") as a Redneck sheriff . He's adorable . There is so much passion in him , a child like naivety and easy going personality . Later in the movie he shows he's darker , more mature side.The other actors give solid support to Pullman . I have to mention Michael Beach who really seems to be cold blooded psycho and good performance by Billy Bob Thornton (who is also the writer of the movie).I give it 7/10.
Dave from Ottawa
A sweetly innocuous small town gets a visit from some big time hoods and local sheriff Bill Paxton wants in on the bust, much to the annoyance of the two L.A. cops trailing them. But soon there is much more going on than a crime story. The sheriff's ex is traveling with the goons and her personal history with the sheriff then serves to fog up an otherwise straightforward pursuit. Motives and loyalties are questioned, temptations arise and personal drama takes the foreground. This second act shift from crime story to relationship drama is what gives the movie its power and makes it memorable and unusual. Too often, crime thrillers have tacked on romantic subplots that just clutter things up, but here the relationship and its fall-out are inextricable from the plot and are in fact pushing it ahead. The proceedings feel authentic and the drama has power rooted in that emotional authenticity. Cynda Williams is particularly good as the ex; she doesn't just appear in the movie, she haunts it. Her strong presence and her emotional history with the sheriff pervade and color everything that comes after her first appearance and she becomes the key figure and the great enigma at the center of the drama. I liked the dusty-but-harmless look of the small Arkansas town, and the way everybody in it manages to convey normalcy without being dull. This shows good writing and quality work on the part of the minor players. The whole movie is a testament to putting quality in the details. There are few false notes struck here, a rare thing for a low budget crime drama.
AD
