One of the most famous sequences in the Quentin Tarantino classic Pulp Fiction showed a pair of hitmen talking about subjects like foot massages and international names for McDonald’s burgers while driving to a location where they were going to murder several people. Writer/director Michael Matteo Rossi’s latest film, the crime thriller Murder Syndicate, opens with a similar “drive and talk” sequence with a group of assassins, but in this case the killers-for-hire characters happen to be a family. A mother, her two sons, and her daughter. Killing is the family business, and they bicker like the average family while also talking about the fact that they’re going to wipe out a bunch of people once they reach their destination.
It’s just another day when we first meet these characters: Diane Robin as Isa, Jessica Morris as her daughter Becca, Timothy Haug and Mark Justice as sons Jonah and Cain. But once the murders start, Isa has some kind of medical issue that nearly gets herself killed alongside their many victims. From that moment, it becomes clear that she’s going to have to pass her murder empire over to someone else... But who will it be? Jonah is young and impressionable, Cain is too intense. Becca seems the obvious choice, but her mom has issues with her as well. And there’s a dark horse in the running: Isa’s boyfriend Zane (Steven Martini).
Cain and Becca dislike Zane intensely, but Jonah has the opposite outlook on him. He allows himself to be taken under Zane’s wing and soaks up the attention and drugs he gets from the guy. As we watch Jonah fall under Zane’s spell, we start to distrust Zane just as much as Jonah’s siblings do. It’s clear that this situation is going to end up going terribly wrong in some way, but we can only take the ride and wait to see just how it’s all going to fall apart.
The previous Rossi films I have watched (Chase and Shadows) have shown me that the director really likes making movies about bad people who do bad things, and rarely are these people likeable. Murder Syndicate falls in line with that, as I can’t say I ever liked or cared about the characters in the movie. Not only are these people who commit massacres with a smile on their face – or while letting out a maniacal cackle, in the case of Zane – but even in between the killings, they’re not likeable while they’re interacting with each other. Cain is unpleasant, Zane is a creep, Jonah is a doofus, etc. But, just like with Chase and Shadows, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t interested in seeing where the story was going to go. And it doesn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy watching the actors play these characters I didn’t like. For example, Zane is completely detestable, but I was fascinated by Martini’s unhinged performance.
My biggest disappointment was that Morris didn’t have more screen time as Becca. I thought she was the most intriguing family member, but she has the least to do in the movie. All of her relatives overshadow her. I was also surprised that a character played by Vernon Wells didn’t have a larger part in the story...
But despite the insufficient amount of Morris and Wells, I had a good time watching Murder Syndicate. It’s another solid entry in Rossi’s series of movies about bad people. So if you like crime thrillers, check this one out. As of this writing, it's available on VOD through Vudu, Google Play, Xbox, Redbox, YouTube, and Microsoft, and should be reaching Amazon soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment