Michael C. Hall was great in television in the 2000s - all of Six Feet Under and half of Dexter. This decade, not so much. I wondered how he would fare in cinema since he only had the antagonist role in Gamer to his name. And it turns out with Cold In July, he fares fairly well. He perfectly executes a character wrestling with inner turmoil for an act of self-defense and fleshes out a story that could otherwise be typical. Jim Mickle has a great sense of direction for this neo-noirish mystery thriller, and the first half of the film offers left turns every scene, tough dilemmas and plenty of thrills, even if it's disinterested in digging under layers. It's unfortunate that it delegates itself into something much lesser in its second half, where Don Johnson joins Hall and Sam Shepard to form a trio of vigilantes. It makes the compelling first half feel like a mere setup to this tonal shift where you wonder why Hall is still hanging around. Nevertheless, it still retains those taut thrills.
7/10
7/10