[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”27096″ img_size=”900×600″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Recently, I reviewed a Netflix movie called Point Blank. Starring Frank Grillo and Anthony Mackie, it was a fun action movie that you can check out on the streaming site. Grillo has had another movie release, July 19th to be exact, and that’s Into the Ashes. A drama that is compared in concept to films like Wind River and Sweet Virginia, Into the Ashes, had so much potential to be a successful drama. Unfortunately, the film fell short and decided to concentrate on arbitrary characters, questionable storylines, and in the end, not really go anywhere.
Slight Spoilers
The plot of the movie is that Luke Grimes plays Nick Brenner, a loving husband who clearly has a past due to the worried look on his face since the film started. Frankly, he should be worried because Nick screwed over Grillo’s character Sloan. Sloan is getting out of prison and wants to know why someone he considered family decided to leave. Not only that, but why Nick took Sloan’s money. Things don’t look good at all for Nick, as Sloan and his right-hand man, Charlie (David Cade) pay a visit to Nick’s wife while Nick and a friend are out hunting.
Where It Didn’t Deliver
You can see from the trailer that Sloan and Charlie kill Nick’s wife, which obviously sends Nick into a vengeful rage. Is it rage or the same tortured, worried look that he’s sporting throughout the whole movie? I’m not trying to be overly critical. The first half of the movie was actually solid. There was that tense drawn-out drama where you knew that shit was about to hit the fan at any moment. Only, it never really did. You have maybe one intense scene that was completely carried by Grillo and Cade. These two did the best acting job in the film, but yet their screen time was probably under ten minutes altogether. For being the big bad wolves of the movie, Into the Ashes never really took the time to establish them so that we could fear them. Especially Grillo. The few lines and scenes he did have, were great. Why not build upon that?
The film also seemed out of order, as there was no reason to have that flashback at the end. I didn’t need most of the film to concentrate on Nick’s wife’s father, nor did I really need most that happened in the second half of the movie. I really wish that the movie had not only kept up the momentum that it had in the first half, but build up from there. Into the Ashes needed to build on Grillo’s character, as well as Cade’s. As I’ve seen in other reviews, Grimes simply cannot hold the story on his own. He’s fine for what he was, but it was weakened by not having the “bad guys” stand in a stronger presence in the movie.
Rating
Overall, I would give this movie a 2.5/5.
Have you seen Into the Ashes? Keep an eye for Frank Grillo’s other upcoming film, Black and Blue; on October 25, 2019.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaROTEO_X44&t=69s” align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
