zardoz-13 Review of Standoff

Standoff (I) (2016)

A Solid, Suspenseful, but Violent Low-budget Melodrama

[7/10 · 27 December 2018]

Writer & director Adam Alleca's minimalistic, tightly-scripted, cat & mouse thriller "Standoff" lives up to its title with suspenseful situations and colorful dialogue. This spare, spartan, low-budget, hero versus villain melodrama benefits from strong performances from Thomas Jane and Lawrence Fishburne who refuse to back down. Clocking in at 86 economical minutes, "Standoff" unfolds with villainous Sade (Lawrence Fishburne of "The Matrix") murdering a priest and two bystanders at a funeral, while 12-year old, orphan girl Isabelle, nicknamed 'Bird' (a bespectacled Ella Ballentine), snaps pictures of him after he sheds his mask. Sade is surprised and shocked that this child has taken his picture. Indisputably, he must now either eliminate her or face arrest and execution. She flees from the scene of the crime and winds up at the residence of a grieving man, Carter (Thomas Jane of "The Punisher"), who has lost his son and plans to commit suicide. During their initial confrontation, Sade and Carter exchange shots and wound each other. Sade takes a burst of buckshot in his ribs, while Carter is crippled by an ankle shot. The two guys and the little girl spend most of "Standoff" in Carter's brick farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. This isolation raises the stakes for a while, until a State Trooper hears Sade discharge his automatic pistol. Meantime, Sade and Carter imitate Rambo by cauterizing their own respective wounds with glowing knives. Sade remains downstairs while Carter guards the top of the stairs on the second floor. Neither man plans to back down. Sade boasts a veritable arsenal of firearms and ammunition while Carter has a .20 gauge, single-barreled shotgun. Sade and Carter carry on a running conversation, with Sade trying futilely to bargain with Carter. Alleca maintains an air of tension and ratchets up the suspense with some grisly shots of their respective wounds. Possibly the most agonizing episode occurs when a young, inexperienced State Policeman, Gerald Baker (Jim Watson of "Crimson Peak"), responds to the call and finds himself in greater danger than either Isabelle or Carter. Basically, this psychological showdown arouses your paranoia owing to its claustrophobic setting and Fishburne's evil turn as the killer. "Stand0ff" qualifies as above-average despite its low-budget.