"Small Town Crime"

 Crime movies have always had gripping tales and have portrayed characters at their rawest element with emotion and flaws that make us reflect on ourselves seeing how different and similar we are to them. Many of them are descent at heart and when faced with a chance at redemption will go to any links to gain it.

Mike Kendell (John Hawkes) a former cop who was let go after being drunk on the job that ended with his partner and a kidnapped victim dead has been doing very little to improve his life for the past year. Drinking heavily and collecting unemployment, his sister Kelly Banks (Octavia Spencer) and brother-in-law (Anthony Anderson) are supportive, but growing impatient with him in his effort to improve his life. 

After a night of drinking, he wakes up in his car outside of town and finds a woman who has been beaten almost to death. Although able to race her to the hospital, he learns that the woman named Kristy (Stephania Barr) has died. Determined to find her killer, he turns private investigator and soon stumbles into a plot of hired guns and blackmail that puts the lives of a prostitute with information Ivy (Stefanie Scott) and his family in danger. 

A thrilling dirty harry movie at its best. It's a dark look into those who must blur the lines of the law to bring justice to those who would otherwise never receive it. John Hawkes's performance of a broken man that is willing to die to get one last shot to do what's right is gripping and compelling. A role that shows that it's not too late for redemption. A five G.M.Star performance for a film well cast and scripted. 

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