MURDER CITY (2023)

MURDER CITY (2023)

Tagline: Meet The Next Generation

(Action, Crime, Watch Your Thumbs) [R]

Note: This movie was given a TV—MA rating for streaming which is the equivalent of an R rating if it had been released theatrically. 

I don’t remember breaks being part of your parenting playbook.

In this one, Neil, an ex-cop ends up doing 2 years in jail for drug dealing. He gets out and finds out that a kingpin named Ash has been protecting him and his wife Molly and son Trevor while he was in jail. Ash uses this to goad Neil into working for her. It doesn’t help that Spencer; Neil’s drug-addicted brother is also all about Neil going to work for Ash as well. Can Neil and his family escape the criminal underworld?

First off, one thing they did really well in this was give us a really sadistic intelligent villain in Ash. She is one of the more diabolical characters I have seen in a direct-to-streaming movie ever. Clearly, she’s not perfect though, or we really wouldn’t have a kingpin, we’d have bad writing. 

Acting wise I really like Mike Colter (PLANE), so I was happy to see he was in this. I do think that even though he’s playing a disgraced ex-cop named Neil, he wasn’t given the short end of the stick in this role like he was in PLANE. Needless to say, he’s very good in this but I don’t think he had to carry the film by himself like some reviews are saying. Stephanie Sigman (SPECTRE), is not playing a likable character by any means, but she’s convincing as Ash. Isaiah C. Morgan (The Villains of Valley View) is more than adequate as Trevor. I haven’t seen any of his other roles, but this was a good one for him. Medina Senghore is outstanding here. This doesn’t shock me. In my review for THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD, I said she should be given any role she wants.

The pacing for this is pretty decent in the second half of the film. I did think the start was a bit slow, but it really picks up in the final 40 minutes or so. This thing is not without its cliché though. I don’t think any man fighting for his family would trust a drug dealer to drop their gun in favor of hand-to-hand combat? The script does serve as a warning to not do “just anything” to get out of being poor or living a life where you are struggling, but even more so as a “violence begets violence” warning. You can’t gangster your way into being out of danger. While peaceful people do sometimes become the victims of violence, you are far more likely to die of violence if you live a violent lifestyle. 

The score is pretty plain overall. There really isn’t much of a soundtrack to give any thoughts on.  

This thing will not blow any minds as I like to say, but it’s also pretty good, especially for a film that most people probably haven’t even heard of. We do get an incomplete story regarding Neil’s character which is a bit of an issue for me. We also find out nothing about his father which is weird, because his father seemed to drive at least part of his motivation. I think this was a miss in regards to that. Having said that, the rest of the plot is pretty coherent and really wasn’t a drawback for me. 

This one gets a 4 out of 7. If you look at the field of direct-to-streaming offerings in the b-movie action /crime wheelhouse, it’s one of the better ones Tubi has procured. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF VILLIAGE ROADSHOW PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.