Mob Land
Reviews
Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots
Morality and violence in small-town America is explored in the gritty and brutal “Mob Land,” a modern neo-noir film from director and co-writer Nicholas Maggio. Reminiscent of films like “Hell or High Water” and “Wind River,” this is the type of unapologetically masculine story that’s seriously dark, rooted in brutality, and emanates a sense of realism that captures the essence of small town Americana. A small town in the heart of the South is struggling with the opioid epidemic. It seems like every week another local resident is dying from an overdose. The local sheriff (John Travolta) does his best to keep law and order, but things get complicated when his personal friend and desperate family man Shelby (Shiloh Fernandez) is convinced to rob a pill mill with his reckless brother-in-law Trey (Kevin Dillon). The two men rip off the wrong people, and the promise of an easy payday and lure of a quick score takes a violent turn, especially when the New Orleans mafia sends their most lethal revenge-seeking enforcer named Clayton (Stephen Dorff) to town. Tasked with bringing justice to the perpetrators, Clayton tracks down Trey and Shelby, threatening their families and their lives. It’s a solid foundation for a thriller, and Maggio (along with co-writer Rob Healy) takes his time to thoroughly set up and develop his rich, authentic characters. The cast is excellent, with strong performances and an equally engaging script. Dorff is genuinely frightening as a menacing henchman, and Fernandez has an abundance of charisma and talent that’s more than enough to hold the entire project together. Travolta falls victim to a bit of stunt casting, but his supporting role complements the story well. Maggio is a skilled director, and his film is polished with a homegrown, rough-around-the-edges feel. He creates a world where his characters can settle in and be themselves, and it lends a depth to the authenticity of the story. Except for a couple of scenes filmed with an annoying (and clichéd) handheld shaky cam, Maggio almost always leans on directorial choices that make his film better. While it may ultimately be forgettable, there is still a lot to like about “Mob Land.” It’s a shocking, brutal, and grim morality tale about revenge, honor, and the savagery of survival in rural America.
Movie Recommendation
The Son of No One2011-11-04A rookie cop is assigned to the 118 Precinct in the same district where he grew up. The Precinct Captain starts receiving letters about two unsolved murders that happened many years ago in the housing projects when the rookie cop was just a kid. These letters bring back bad memories and old secrets that begin to threaten his career and break up his family.More...
Jackals2017-09-01Set in the 1980s, an estranged family hires a cult deprogrammer to take back their teenage son from a murderous cult, but find themselves under siege when the cultists surround their cabin, demanding the boy back.More...
Kill Me If You Dare2024-02-13A winning lottery ticket has grave consequences for a married couple when they start hatching plans to kill each other for the prize money.More...
Land of the Pharaohs1955-07-24A captured architect designs an ingenious plan to ensure the impregnability of the tomb of a self-absorbed Pharaoh, obsessed with the security of his next life.More...
Monolith2016-05-12A mother and her son plan a surprise visit to Los Angeles to see her husband/his father. Halfway there they get into a terrible accident in the middle of nowhere and now must fight to survive.More...
The Stranger2022-10-06Two strangers strike up a conversation on a long journey. However, neither is who they appear to be, each carry secrets that threaten to ruin them — and in the background, one of the nation's largest police operations is closing in.More...
Poker Face2022-11-16A yearly high-stakes poker game between childhood friends turns into chaos when the tech billionaire host unveils an elaborate scheme to seek revenge for the ways they've betrayed him over the years. But as his plans unfold, a group of thieves hatch plans of their own breaking into the mansion thinking it is empty. The old friends quickly band together and the years of playing the game help them win their way through a night of terror.More...
57 Seconds2023-09-29When a tech blogger lands an interview with a tech guru and stops an attack on him, he finds a mysterious ring that takes him back 57 seconds into the past.More...
Cobweb2023-07-19Eight year old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tapping from inside his bedroom wall—one that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter's fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trustworthiness.More...
The Warriors1979-02-01Prominent gang leader Cyrus calls a meeting of New York's gangs to set aside their turf wars and take over the city. At the meeting, a rival leader kills Cyrus, but a Coney Island gang called the Warriors is wrongly blamed for Cyrus' death. Before you know it, the cops and every gangbanger in town is hot on the Warriors' trail.More...
Haunted Mansion2023-07-26A woman and her son enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters.More...
Resident Evil: Death Island2023-06-22In San Francisco, Jill Valentine is dealing with a zombie outbreak and a new T-Virus, Leon Kennedy is on the trail of a kidnapped DARPA scientist, and Claire Redfield is investigating a monstrous fish that is killing whales in the bay. Joined by Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers, they discover the trail of clues from their separate cases all converge on the same location, Alcatraz Island, where a new evil has taken residence and awaits their arrival.More...
Knights of the Zodiac2023-04-27When a headstrong street orphan, Seiya, in search of his abducted sister unwittingly taps into hidden powers, he discovers he might be the only person alive who can protect a reincarnated goddess, sent to watch over humanity. Can he let his past go and embrace his destiny to become a Knight of the Zodiac?More...
Nowhere2023-09-29A young pregnant woman named Mia escapes from a country at war by hiding in a maritime container aboard a cargo ship. After a violent storm, Mia gives birth to the child while lost at sea, where she must fight to survive.More...
Burn After Reading2008-09-05When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst falls into the hands of gym employees, Linda and Chad, they see a chance to make enough money for Linda to have life-changing cosmetic surgery. Predictably, events whirl out of control for the duo, and those in their orbit.More...
Palm Springs2020-07-10When carefree Nyles and reluctant maid of honor Sarah have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated when they find themselves unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other.More...
The Equalizer 32023-08-30Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends' protector by taking on the mafia.More...
Ford v Ferrari2019-11-13American car designer Carroll Shelby and the British-born driver Ken Miles work together to battle corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company and take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.More...
Ex Machina2015-01-21Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.More...
Titanic1997-12-18101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.More...