|
|
It all starts very much on the innocent side - well, innocent-ish mind
you, when Justin (Kris Reilly) and his best friend Daniel (Dennis Marin)
pick up two barmaids, Mindy (Jessika Johnson) and Amanda (Kaiti Wallen) at
their favourite dive and lure them back to Justin's place in hope of
getting them drunk and trick them into doing porn. Things get out of hand
when Justin strangles Mindy to death. Amanda makes a hasty escape and goes
right to the police, but when Detectives Caldwell (Harley Wallen) and
Morris (Jerry Hayes) search Justin's apartment, they can't find a trace of
any murder, let alone the victim of course. And they're quick to turn the
tables on Amanda, claiming to have found LSD in her blood. And why?
Because Justin is the son of Senator Stevens (Dennis Haskins), that's why,
and the good senator has Caldwell on his payroll.
Amanda though is not one to let the death of her best friend just be
swept under the rug - but unfortunately she has nobody to support her but
her father Max (Tom Sizemore), an ex-convict who has been doing time for
murder, and the police would just love any opportunity to pick him up and
arrest him again. On the other side, the senator of course has all the
bases covered - all but one that is, and that's Justin himself, who
doesn't like to be told what to do and repeatedly foils his dad and
Detective Caldwell's plans to keep him out of trouble, to the extent where
he actually kills his own best friend Daniel ... and weirdly enough, this
at first seems like a stroke of genius, as Max is found at the scene of
the crime and arrested for Daniel's murder - and who really would believe
an ex-con's claim of innocence?
Thing is, Justin doesn't stop here but aims higher and higher in how
much he can get away with, and proves to be a total psycho in the process,
so much so that even his father puts out a hit on him - but psycho he may
be, Justin isn't stupid, and plans his murders rather meticulously, and of
course, ultimately his lethal path leads back to Amanda ...
If there's one thing that Abstruse is not it's a
feel-good movie - instead, the film is set in a neo-noirish world where
there is no clear distinction between good and evil, where police work and
politics are only more respectable facades for dirty business, and where
it's not always clear that people get what they deserve - or indeed too
much of it. All of this is brought to life by a well-structured script
that handles its ensemble cast of characters very well without losing the
plot in the process, a directorial effort heavy on suspense and tension,
and solid performances from all involved. Well worth a watch for sure!
|
|
|