Misdirection arrives on VOD on February 10 from Cineverse.
Willy’s Wonderland helmer Kevin Lewis’s new crime thriller, Misdirection, is an acquired taste, if not a tricky one. The “contained thriller” subgenre can be a hard nut to crack if you don’t know what you’re doing, and either way, you certainly have to give some credit to Lewis for giving it a shot.
A good script certainty does the trick for a film like this. The story won’t falter and flounder into mundanity and you won’t be left checking the time. To this end, it helps that Misdirection keeps a lean-enough runtime at eighty-four minutes. It’s enough to encompass what Lewis’s film strives for with a tale that unravels with secrets and lies, and long-winded vengeance, and with key performances by Olga Kurylenko and Frank Grillo, and actor Oliver Trevena.
It is with this trio that we follow Sarah (Kurylenko) and James (Trevena), a crime couple looking to make their last big heist job before calling it quits. Their grand plans begin faltering upon breaking into the home of David (Grillo), a high profile defense attorney who prematurely arrives from a dinner function with plans of his own.
I’ll leave those details to the viewer to discover for themselves, but everything unravels from the moment Sarah and James take David hostage only to reach an impasse on whether or not to kill him. Before too long, the questions of whether or not who is lying to who, who is using who, why, and to what ends, become all the more clear as things boil to a propulsive and violent climax.
Best in casting here is two out of three as far as notoriety goes, which especially compliments the rest of the cast performances before long. Other plusses here partly include the film’s score which help provide something ambient to the film’s cerebral and visual allure, and editing and aesthetics that keep the film afloat.
It’s enough to warrant viewers’ attention, while the only downside is that Misdirection runs out of steam midway into the film and just barely catches itself before losing its momentum. It’s the same kind of mistake that a lot of television dramas make which is a little frustrating.
To say the least, our starring trio contributes exceptional performances in Misdirection, which gives the film the fighting chance it needs before credits roll. Kurylenko is a thrill to watch opposite Grillo whose character lends aptly to the film’s ambiguity in discerning who the villains in this movie really are, and Trevena as the second of our lead criminal duo who finds himself unwittingly getting caught in the mystique of it all.
The film’s second half and explosive finale is where the film pays off, but not before muddying exposition with stifling story development. A more critical deduction would allude to cutting the film an extra half hour. Otherwise, enjoy Misdirection, so long as you’re not led astray on what to expect after this.
