ABSTRUSE

Directed by: Harley Wallen

Starring: Tom Sizemore, Kris Reilly, Dennis Haskins, Harley Wallen, Kaiti Wallen, Jesi Jensen, Dennis Marin, Henry Frost III, Mo El-Zaatari, Jerry Hayes, Jessika Johnson Amanda,

Mindi and Jess work together in an upscale bar. One evening, Amanda and Mindi meet Justin the son of Senator Stevens, and his friend Daniel, and head back to Justin's apartment for an "after party". However the evening of fun and frolics turns deadly. Amanda manages to escape but finds that the son of a Senator is able to buy a lot of favours to make his "error of judgement" disappear and turn the tables on Amanda to make her look like a crazy criminal herself. However there Is one thing Justin hasn't counted on - Amanda's father, Max, who's just been released from prison, and won't let anything prevent him from exonerating his daughter.

Abstruse is the third film that I've reviewed by director Harley Wallen (he also did THE ETERNAL CODE and BETRAYED), and while it is my favourite of his so far, it still suffers from the same issues as his previous films, which is its running time.

At nearly two hours in length, Abstruse is about 20 minutes too long for its own good, and unfortunately a lot of the dead narrative weight is situated at the beginning of the film. Despite a great opening scene, the first fifteen minutes of this are a bit of an endurance test. If you manage to get through that though, there is a very decent thriller waiting to be discovered and a particularly knockout performance or two.

Kris Reilly had a small part as a journalist in Warren's BETRAYED, but is given a much meatier role here as Justin Stevens, the privileged misogynistic son of the local Senator. He lays on the smarm, flashes his (dad's) cash around and spends early scenes enjoying cocaine with a pair of prostitutes. However its when they try to leave, and Justin has to threaten them to be quiet about his roughness in the bedroom, that we start to see who he really is.

Justin has gotten it into his head to make a porno movie (with equipment bought by his dad, of course) and propositions that he and Daniel pick up a couple of the barmaids they'd met previously - Mindy, and her friend Amanda. Whilst Amanda looks for love and romance, Mindy is all about turning her encounters into money. However Amanda isn't above having a little fun, either.

There are a couple of scenes where Justin lets his psychopathic side loose and Reilly nails it. While Daniel is freaking out, Justin is calm and cool as ice. He feels like he's finally achieved something, and you can feel his pride glowing off him.

There are parallels between this film and BETRAYED, as both deal with a powerful politician having to have a covert "fixer" to help him out. Unlike Mike Wolf though, Cody isn't above killing a few people along the way to smooth things over.

The Senator also has some crooked cops on his payroll too, including Detective Caldwell, played by the director himself. There's a great scene where he goes to take a statement from Daniel, where you suddenly realise that he's dirty when he starts making veiled threats to Daniel.

The relationship between the Senator and Justin is really well portrayed. The Senator is pushed to breaking point with Justin. There is such animosity between them. Justin revels in the trouble he's causing his dad but finds himself unable to break from seeming weak in his father's eyes. However as Justin's psychosis grows, so does his confidence in taking on his dad and the status quo.

Tom Sizemore gives the film a lot. He has great screen presence and delivers a 'tough dad" persona perfectly. There is a scene where he realises that Caldwell is framing him and his anger is palpable. He's not a guy to back down, at all. Special mention must be made for Henry Frost III, who plays Quinn, a friend of Max who gets brought in to help. Frost makes Quinn such a cool dude, he definitely needs his own adventure!

THE VERDICT

Abstruse suffers from similar problems as Harley Wallen's other films - its too long for its own good. Not only that but it takes nearly 15 minutes for the actual story to get going - before that we are just hanging with the various characters, and the scenes are too long and loose. However, once Justin and Daniel take Mindi and Amanda back to make their porn movie, the film suddenly shifts gears and Kris Reilly's performance starts to take prominence. The other area which could be improved is the score, which at times is over-wrought and jarring, distracting from the story. However there is a very good thriller in here, waiting to be discovered. Oh, and Quinn needs his own movie.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)