4 Star

A Hero Cop and Baddies.

From rookie director Johnny Martin (Delirium), he brings us a vengeance story that is a vigilante film. Based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates (Foxfire) it brings us seasoned performances by the stars and a cracking delivery by the young Talitha Bateman (Nine Lives).

Niagara Falls USA is a dangerous place to live, with rapes being reported every six minutes and it seem to be filled with Meth labs. Policing this is John (Nicholas Cage, The Rock, Tokarev, The Frozen Ground, Season of the Witch) and his partner, who are on a stakeout that goes badly wrong. John gets shot and he has a thirty day recovery time which he spends time in the local bar where he meets Teena (Anna Hutchison, The Cabin in the Woods). They hit it off, but she has to pick up her twelve year old daughter Bethie (Talitha Bateman) from a 4th of July fireworks party.

It’s time to go home and Teena and Bethie walk through the woods for a short cut. It all goes wrong when they get to mermaid cove, as a group of youths, Marvin (Joshua Mikel, Independence Day: Resurgence), Lloyd (Rocco Nugent, Infiltrators), Jimmy (Joe Ochterbeck, Jade) and Fritz (Carter Burch, Desperate Cowboys) grab Teena and Bethie and drag them kicking and screaming into a garage. They all rape Teena as Bethie looks on from a safe spot. They beat her and leave her for dead. Only when it goes quiet does Bethie move from her safe spot. She moves to see her mother then heads off to get help, this is when John and his new partner come across Bethie walking up the road.

The crime-scene is littered with evidence as Teena and Bethie are rushed off to hospital and John tells Bethie that he will help. Teena is out cold and cannot help John, but Bethie saw everything and suspects are soon rounded up and taken to a line-up room where Bethie can point them out. Agnes (Deborah Kara Unger, Silent Hill), Bethie’s grandmother, comforts her and prepares for them moving in with her.

Meanwhile a priest tells Irma (Charlene Tilton, Lucky Dog), the mother of the accused, of a lawyer by the name of Jay Kirkpatrick (Don Johnson, Django Unchained). He is a smart man and has worked for the Vatican and he reckons he is the man to get the guys off the charges.

As Teena slowly recovers she has changed mentally and this is good for the accused but not good for Teena or John. Watch as Teena’s world unravels and John is drawn in deeper to Teena’s life.

Keep an eye out for Talitha Bateman in the future.

Available to Order Online Now.