“The Fighter”, Michael Farris Smith’s 2018 novel, serves as the basis for Lionsgate’s latest compelling rollout, Rumble Through The Dark. The film is directed by sibling filmmaking duo Graham Phillips and Parker Phillips who also produced the pic from a script, also by Smith.
Pensive and cerebral in its passing moments between the fierce and brutal telling of one man’s journey for redemption, the film is led by none other than actor Aaron Eckhart who performs a great deal of his own stuff on screen as our main character, Jack Boucher, a grisled, hard-as-nails bareknuckle brawler now battling dementia after years of concussions.
Eckhart is joined by Bella Thorne in a key role as a sexy, tattooed carnival worker who stumbles upon a major plot piece in the film’s first half. It’s an introductory moment to a character named Annette who, in the course of her own journey and search for something meaningful, takes a certain keenness to spiritual adherence – signs and things that help point her in the right direction or guide her when a moment of truth leaves her feeling uncertain.
The two eventually cross paths with each other at a crucial point in the film, etching a timely inflection point for Annette’s arrival into Jack’s beleagured life, as he is faced with bankruptcy and the lingering foreclosure on the fertile land and centuries-old home handed to him by his now-ailing foster mother. To make matters worse, Jack is also indebted to the tune of twelve-grand to the Mississippi Delta’s foremost notorious mobster, Big Mama Sweet, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
Rumble Through The Dark takes on a study of psychological tumult through flashbacks to Jack’s troubled childhood, exploring the version of our main character we now see in his current struggle with his health, as well as alcoholism and gambling. His downward spiral is accentuated further in moments of life-or-death peril, stricken with omnious visions and messages conveyed by illusions due to his afflictions.
Eckhart’s portrayal lends a tenacious, unnerving and raw characterization of Jack. There’s a charisma to Jack that defines him with an affable reception when it comes to his earnestness amid the brash, speech-slurred and terse persona he brings to the table. This aspect of his character is handsomely laid out by Jean-Baptiste’s role in a performance that provides a significantly stern foundation for the film’s illustration of their history together leading up to the current timeline.
Jack’s once-prospective money-making pastime garnishes that history well in only a handful of moments of dialogue, along with a set of apt, intensely performed action scenes and evocative montage moments with Eckhart taking on fight choreography by David Conk. The most interesting thing about Jack here is that he’s totally aware that he’s not the scrapper he used to be, and still, he’s got the grit and acumen to knock the wind out of anyone he has to, especially when the instincts and adrenaline kick in. As for his confidence in the ring though, his final fight with the towering and brooding Axe (Derek Russo) will be his biggest test of this aspect of his character evolution as the film winds down with the stakes high as they are.
The Phillips’ shepherd a gritty, punishing dramatic tale with savvy action and thrills to propel the story forward, and get you rooting for the underdog in Rumble Through The Dark. Its ornaments and sometimes sluggish spells tend to subtract from its albeit mindful intent as a study of the addictive penchant that partially outlines Jack’s progression. It helps that the writing is quick to underscore this toward the finale, shaping its more survivalist and purpose-driven context as the film rings in another remarkably physical, brutal and challenging role for Eckhart in his recent, more action-oriented career moves.
