SYNOPSIS: In “Americana,” a neo-Western starring Halsey and Sydney Sweeney, and now playing in theatres, a group of disparate characters are brought together by a rare Indigenous jacket.
CAST: Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, and Simon Rex. Directed by Tony Tost.
REVIEW: Set in a small South Dakota town “Americana” is a gritty neo-Western that feels like an artifact from the time when the Coen Bros and Tarantino crime dramas roamed free.
In his feature film directorial debut Tony Tost places a stolen Indigenous heirloom in the middle of the action in a story featuring a diner waitress with a speech impediment (Sydney Sweeney) and dreams of becoming a star in Nashville, a lovelorn military veteran (Paul Walter Hauser), a vicious killer (Eric Dane), a Western antiquities dealer (Simon Rex), the leader of an Indigenous group (Zahn McClarnon), a desperate woman on-the-run (Halsey) and her young son (Gavin Maddox Bergman) who sincerely believes that he’s the reincarnation of legendary Lakota warrior Sitting Bull.
It feels like a mid-90s indie ensemble piece, complete with a broken timeline, romance, violence, quirky humor and lots of star power. Tost avoids clutter by cutting the fat, paring the story down to its essentials. The result is a tightly crafted, violent crime drama that tells a compelling story with interesting characters and subtext about identity, cultural appropriation, greed and the commodification of Indigenous culture.
At the same time, by avoiding the stereotypes of the Western genre, it feels fresh and authentic, particularly in the case of Halsey, in her feature film debut. Her character Mandy has a troubled past, present and is trying to make a better future for herself and son. Driven to extremes, she consistently subverts our expectations to create a character that never goes over-the-top but packs a huge punch.
“Americana” is a welcome return to the quirky indie films of the Jean Chrétien years.
LOGLINE: Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) become fugitives from the law when they are forced to bend the rules in their investigation into corruption in the Miami PD and their former captain’s (Joe Pantoliano) alleged involvement with the Romanian Mafia. “You’re my bad boys,” says Capt. Conrad Howard on a video. “Now clear my name.”
CAST: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Rhea Seehorn, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tasha Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Joe Pantoliano. Directed by Adil & Bilall
REVIEW: A classic odd couple, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, maintain the chemistry that has fueled this franchise for almost three decades, and “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” is all the better for it. They’ve slowed somewhat, but their breathless back-and-forth, usually while they’re under fire from all directions, is as sharp, and funny as ever.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that much of the movie feels like an exercise in nostalgia. The directorial style, courtesy of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, pays homage to the frenetic style of original director Michael Bay. To reinforce their debt to the franchise’s former director, they even give Bay a quick cameo.
There’s nothing much fresh about “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.” Old characters are brought back (sometimes from the dead), the only thing more generic than the villain feels is the dialogue (eg: “You’re playing a game and don’t know the rules.”) and with the exception of a hungry, giant alligator, the peril is same old.
Cudos, however, to whoever came up with the idea of Smith taking a (Oscar) slap (or three) to the face in a scene that suggests he’s open to atonement for his mistreatment of Chris Rock.
“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” delivers what you expect from the franchise, which is a crowd-pleasing mix of action and comedy. The story may be implausible but the chemistry that drives it is completely tangible.
