Standoff

Image Source

Standoff is about a young girl (a wooden Ella Ballentine) who witnesses the slaughter of a hitman (Laurence Fishburne, delivering a menacing and frightening performance). The girl flees to a nearby farmhouse. She finds protection from the home’s owner, a war veteran (Thomas Jane in a layered performance). This movie has a lot going for it. The setting is small and confined largely to the house, which looks pretty good. Laurence Fishburne and Thomas Jane give good performances, and, due to their performances and talents, I found some entertainment in their battle of wills. The music is alright. There’s sort of an 80s feel to it. The writing and story aren’t especially strong, and the pacing just doesn’t feel right to me. A bulk of this movie grinds to a slow, plodding pace. I think the idea was to build some tension, but it just comes off as kind of boring most of the time. The majority of the dialogue comes between Jane and the young girl, who seems to just struggle with her lines The story is fairly predictable, and cliched. You can figure every character’s beat pretty much from the get-go. This movie’s meant to be a slow burn-style thriller. Unfortunately, the monotonous pacing really don’t make the build meaningful, and some of the more violent moments that come later just didn’t feel natural to me. The final result sadly isn’t worth the watch. It’s slow, boring, and just kind of comes off as nothing more than wasted potential. 

5 / 10