
Before her bodyguards feed the sheriff’s deputy to the guard dogs, drug lord Big Cat (Andie MacDowell) comments, “If you’re gonna survive in these hills, you’ll have to get used to a little blood.” This is the thrift-store brand of “Red Right Hand,” Jonathan Easley’s first motion picture script, and is also directed by Ian and Eshom Nelms, who are exploring the same topics in this one as in their previous feature, ‘Small Town Crime,’ from 2017.
The scene moves to Kentucky in this crime thriller featuring Orlando Bloom as Cash, a lot former junkie who left Big Cat’s gang with a red-handed burnt scar on his palm. He is still disturbed by the haunting memories of his sister dying due to drugs. A widow on her mother’s land and living in a shanty, Cash helps run the farm with his spineless, drunken brother-in-law Finney (Scott Haze) and his niece Savannah (the new Chapel Oaks).
In this case, however, there is the importance of outlining that no one ever seems to sever ties with their history. When his family comes under threat when Big Cat sends out her gang for revenge due to Finney not returning the borrowed 100k, Cash gets dragged back into the chaos. Big Cat “is in empire building” and nothing short of that will suffice her. Therefore, Cash must utilize all his abilities as a people-avenging machine to help Big Cat expand her legacy. Followed by further drug obscene violent deliveries. Being aware of the fragility of the arrangement, Cash and Finney also conduct impact training on Savannah.
You can never say however that Bloom is adept at raising the stakes with the character of Cash who has numerous tattoos all over him and is hungover with squat muscles from baring pull-ups off his porch frame for the first time undercutting this movie bloom does a good effort in that area.
One notices the acting rather than the being. This is not necessarily a problem, except perhaps that Bloom seeks realism, rather than opting for the caricature. Certainly, there is a time and place for earnest glum, but this is not that kind of bloody saga.
That’s where Garret Dillahunt, who plays a fellow ex-junkie and ex-gang member preacher named Wilder, shines in his role. Dillahunt doesn’t leave anything up to subtlety, he goes for ostentatious speeches and gestures. Only in that case, can Father Paul be interpreted as a preacher who takes in the sermons that John Milton composes in his Paradise Lost. He can make this film that is the apex of Southern Pulp horror is told through the deranged bible-thumping of Harry Powell in The Night of the Hunter.
Andrew also gets to those rungs, delivering on her best performances in years. Big Cat hails from a great red brick house with a roaring fireplace, built-in wooden bookshelves, and leather seats like some nurturing grandmother, only to then describe her setting as if it was winter in hell describing how she keeps thumb cut off men who annoy her just for the fun of it and tortures her helpers during sexual intercourse. MacDowell has no issue relishing herself with every line. He is from the South and with such lineage, he understands the art of the subtle threat. She has the heart of a snake.
As a consequence, it’s quite unfortunate that her vicious outlaw associates seem more like a sing-and-stomp stripe band than a gang of metal plunderers. It seems that everyone is too well put together, with everyone sporting immaculate clothes, trim beards, and well-tailored suits. Where did rugged faces of character actors such as Jack Elam or Warren Oates who fit as hard-core lifers whom these characters are supposed to possess?
At least cinematographer Johnny Derango creates the typical vision of bunko in a visually alluring manner using high contrast night shots with orange teal color scheme. Almost 50% of the motion picture is set during the night, and thankfully in order to achieve these noir aesthetics, the scenes are actually well-lit. This means you actually see the faces of the characters, something that seems to be less and less common for any film these days.
Rather disappointingly, where the final climatic confrontation should be an opportunity for Bloom to come to the forefront, he appears to be absent for long periods. As Savannah uses her acquired shooting skills and the preacher confronts Big Cat, the awkward cutting fails to show Bloom who comes across in this sequence as hiding in the woods towards her compound.
At this juncture, it is as though the movie’s producers have arrived at the conclusion that it is Dillahunt and MacDowell that make the movie worth sitting through. This is not such a surprise though, given that these two characters also neatly encapsulate the key premise of the whole film: America’s story is one of God, family, guns, drugs, and money Amen.
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