TL;DR – An exploration of the enduring legacy of trauma and the damage it can leave if you can get past one particular plot point.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Warning – Contains scenes including flashing lights.

Desperation Road Review –

Today, we come into a film with more than a bit of trepidation. On the one hand, we have Garrett Hedlund, whose work I have generally enjoyed and whose Tron Legacy lives rent-free in my brain. However, then we have Mel Gibson, who was once a force of nature, but when I last saw him in The Continental, he was an anchor that held the entire production back, though to be fair, that was not the show’s only issue. How is this dichotomy going to work? Well, it turns out the answer was Willa Fitzgerald.    

So, to set the scene, Maben (Willa Fitzgerald) and her daughter Analee (Pyper Braun) hit hard times as they made their way on foot to Mississippi. But when a police officer sexually assaults Maben, and then she shoots him in self-defence. This is bad, really bad. Meanwhile, Russell (Garrett Hedlund) is just getting off a bus from jail when he gets a beat down, with a promise that his debt is not paid. After a chat and a gun pick from his father Mitchell (Mel Gibson), he heads home to find a recently renovated house, now with no windows and glass everywhere. These two worlds are about to collide explosively because there are few secrets in a small town.    

Where Destination Road works really well is in its build-up and tension. You constantly know that a reckoning is on the way for one or more characters. The only question was when that calamity was going to come steaming into the room. You saw it in the way that Maben had to sneak out of the shelter or how Russell winced at every loud sound. Part of what makes this film work is the fact that it is deeply sad. There are very few good people here; they are just people trying to survive the world they are in and the mistakes they have made, which is what a good noir film should do.

An excellent example of this is the character of Larry (Ryan Hurst), who has a genuine and utterly understandable reason for wanting harm to come to Russell. But he has let that drive consume him, creating a divide between him and the people he loves that reinforces his anger and pushes people further away. It is an escalation spiral that you know from the first moments is never going to end well. Indeed, there is one scene that is downright confronting, and Ryan plays it so well. Indeed, I would say that everyone is giving good performances all around, with just some awkwardness and the occasional odd moralising going on.

If there is one thing that held this film back for me, it was a single narrative choice. There are a lot of coincidences that I am willing to take at face value in a movie. There are only two hours of runtime, and there are only so many minutes that you can use. However, this might have been the most significant plot convenience I have ever seen in cinema, and it completely ripped me out of the moment. To add to this, the pacing was a bit plodding at times, and you felt some disjointedness in some places.

In the end, do we recommend Desperation Road? Well, it is not going to be for everyone, but if a southern-style noir film about the damage trauma can do in our lives and the legacy of pain, then this might be one for you to check out. If you liked Desperation Road, we would recommend to you Bad Times at the El Royale.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Desperation Road
Directed by – Nadine Crocker
Screenplay by – Michael Farris Smith
Based on – Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith
Music by – Haim Mazar
Cinematography by – Sy Turnbull
Edited by – Jing Han
Production/Distribution Companies – Grindstone Entertainment, Lionsgate, Capstone Pictures, 120dB Films, Gramercy Park Media, Hopeful Romantix Productions, Elevated,
Starring – Garrett Hedlund, Willa Fitzgerald, Ryan Hurst, Woody McClain, Mel Gibson, Pyper Braun, Bonita Elery, Katy Bodenhamer, Paulina Gálvez, Shiloh Fernandez, Kat Foster, Brady Gentry, Michael Aaron Milligan & Ella Thomas
Rating – Australia: MA15+; Canada: na; Germany: 16; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: 18; United States: R