Under orders from a ruthless crime boss, a getaway driver must battle his conscience and drive an unsuspecting crew member to an ambush execution. There is a long drive ahead.
There was this beautiful period of my life when my parents would drive my two sisters, one friend, and me to South Padre Island for summer vacation. While the allure of the beach and the promise of a cool hotel room guaranteed my excitement, I found this perfect little niche moment where you could pop a low-rent DVD into a mini-DVD player and just let it rip. Car drives were made for those kinds of low-budget action movies peppered across the bargain bin section of a gas station. You’d see names like Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Steven Seagal, Danny Trejo, Chuck Norris, and, nowadays, Frank Grillo, Scott Adkins, Tony Jaa, and more. Those movies, with buxom babes on the cover next to grizzled elder statesmen of the ’80s action era, never failed to disappoint on the eight-hour ride from Dallas to South Padre. “Bring Him to Me” hits much like all those other movies: magical for thirteen-year-olds with a powerful suspension of disbelief, but for me, particularly, there are cracks in the image that don’t tear this one apart but definitely take it down a peg.
Director Luke Sparke keeps the action fare genre alive with this flick. Barry Pepper plays Driver, tasked with delivering a new guy to their villainous crime boss after a stick-up goes horribly wrong. Along the way, Driver and the Passenger (Jamie Costa) get to know each other, and Driver’s moral limits tempt him to give up the ghost. However, like all great crime dramas, it all comes crashing down around them. A straightforward car ride goes horribly wrong in so many different ways.
This story feels like something that reads a little better on paper. The monologues feel twice as long as they need to be, and despite their best efforts, the talent is fighting to emote. A movie with such a tough-guy reputation struggles under the notion of revealing nothing about its protagonist. I’m left wondering what could’ve been when an info dump happens in the grand finale (shown as a reveal). Structure-wise, it’s fine-tuned to center on the drive to the crime boss and the robbery gone wrong. After that, information gets thrown around when it needs to appear. The loose approach to storytelling makes some of the exposition a matter of convenience and the more emotional scenes more of a burden than a joy.
Despite all those red flags, this movie captures the feel of a moody driver piece (inspired by “Drive”). The nighttime ambiance maintains a cloying atmosphere, and the rain elements feel like something production ran with and benefitted their entire production. While most of the budget-saving happens with dialogue between the two men in the car, director Luke Sparke knows the best action occurs when you can see the car. His attention to detail and kinetic camera movements mingle naturally with more handheld approaches. Neither flashy nor desperate. The whole thing feels very functional, and that’s hard to do with a script so limited.
The best thing about this movie is that Sam Neill turns up. Given it’s an Aussie production imitating an American locale (and you can feel the Australian-ness in the slightly off accents), it’s a bit of a surprise to catch Neill hamming it up as a crime boss. What’s more, he never overstays his welcome. He’s only unhinged enough to be incredibly interesting and doesn’t outshine his fellow actors too much. In movies like these, stunt casting can add a marketing budget, but it rarely pays out as nicely as this one. He looks pretty great, too! Good haircut. Solid build. The guy clearly takes good care of himself and not in an abs-chiseled kind of way.
At the end of the day, this movie delivers on its promise: moody Driver undergoes a crisis of conscience after a life of crime. The action hits occasionally, and the acting undergirding all this feels slightly off-kilter. I sometimes wish movies like these got slightly more money or just a little bit of a lift, but the difference between this being five stars and this being three stars is a lot less money than you’d think, and that’s a genuine indie-action compliment if I can think of one. Check it out if you’re in the neighborhood. Makes for a decent airplane watch. That’s as close as I’ll feel I’m on my way to a family vacation.
Now playing in Select Theaters and On Demand
