Plot: Set in the Ozark Mountains, Lucas Frost is an honest man brought up in a crime family whose only legacy is violence. As Lucas tries to make a peaceful life of his own with his fiancée, Emma, he is suddenly pulled back into the family business when his cousin, Eli, perpetrates an armed robbery with brutal consequences.
Review: Crime stories have been revolutionized a few times over the decades, but few have had as indelible a mark as Quentin Tarantino. The shadow of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction has loomed large for the past thirty years, as every filmmaker has tried to put their own stamp on the genre and avoid being stuck in QT’s shadow. Tarantino embraced the tropes of the genre so thoroughly that he turned clichés on their head, a feat that many writers and directors have failed to replicate. Because many solid movies get overlooked and crime sagas have become staples of streaming and network television, it is refreshing when a movie comes along that not only hits the mark in terms of all the genre’s elements but also does so with impeccable writing and standout performances. Violent Ends is a fantastic movie that should be on everyone’s radar when it hits theaters this week.
Violent Ends is a bold and brutal thriller that condenses decades of family drama into a two-hour runtime. Drawing its title from Romeo & Juliet, Violent Ends is a modern, American equivalent of a Shakespearean tragedy. The opening titles explain the legacy of the Frost family in the Ozarks, which began as an all-powerful crime syndicate before a feud split the clan into two factions, with one side focused on cocaine and the other on meth. The numerous Frost family members are aligned with one side or the other, except Lucas (Billy Magnussen), who has distanced himself from his lineage. Along with his half-brother, Tuck (Nick Stahl), and their mother, Darlene (Kate Burton), Lucas enjoys a simple life as he prepares to marry Emma (Alexandra Shipp). One day, while driving Emma for some deliveries, she is shot and killed by a crew robbing a local salvage yard. Lucas recognizes one of the thieves as a Frost cousin and takes it upon himself to exact his revenge. Despite warnings from his mother, who is also a sheriff’s deputy, Lucas systematically goes out to find his fiancée’s killer.
So much of Violent Ends is rooted in familiar elements we have seen countless times before in series like Ozark, Bloodline, Yellowstone, and Justified. Where those shows built their drama and connected narratives across multiple seasons, Violent Ends focuses more on the immediate path that Lucas treads in the days following Emma’s murder. John-Michael Powell wastes no time in putting Lucas’ plan in motion as he tries to find the only identifiable suspect he can while the pompous Sid Frost (James Badge Dale) brazenly postures for Lucas to come after him. The web of distrust amongst the fractured Frost family is plain from the outset, and the various uncles and cousins feel like the rift between Shakespeare’s Capulets and Montagues, but all under one surname. From Eli (Jared Bankens) and Fiddle Frost (Nathaniel Woolsey) to Donny Frost (Bruce McKinnon) and Walt Frost (Ray McKinnon), the cast of Violent Ends is full of recognizable character actors from other crime drama films and shows. The two McKinnons (unrelated, but who have worked together before on the acclaimed series Rectify) are scene-stealers here as they usually are, but pale compared to James Badge Dale’s slickly villainous Sid.
The core of Violent Ends is rooted in this career-best performance from Billy Magnussen. While Magnussen has appeared in Disney films like Into the Woods, Aladdin, and Lilo & Stitch, as well as the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, No Time To Die, and the recent Road House remake, Magnussen’s range of acting has been heavier in comedy and broader roles despite solid dramatic chops. Here, Magnussen is excellent in rooting Lucas’ grief in a rage that is calculating and exacting without sacrificing any emotional trauma. There are multiple moments where his performance could have turned this into Death Wish or Taken. Still, Magnussen fills Lucas with an almost genetic predisposition for violence passed down the Frost family line. Equally impressive is Nick Stahl, who plays Lucas’s half-brother, Tuck, as a reluctant outcast bearing a lot of grudges but who also shares a bond with his sibling. Kate Burton is also quite good as one of the few members of law enforcement seen in the film, and whose direct connection to Lucas and the Frost empire adds a twist to the karmic violence at play.
Writer/director John-Michael Powell fully understood the assignment in creating a crime drama that relies on the genre’s formula, without delivering a movie that feels like every other drama out there. The Ozark setting could have been used as a crutch for stereotype hillbilly characters, but Powell avoids turning this into a mockery of itself. Instead, Violent Ends owes less of a debt to Tarantino and more towards the films of Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan. There is a Western feel to Violent Ends that reminds me a lot of the 2016 film Hell or High Water, in how it handles the intricacies of crime syndicates and the hierarchy of power within them. It also echoes some of 2017’s Wind River in showing a slice of rural America not often seen on screen. There are no wasted moments in Violent Ends, either, which moves at a brisk pace even though it clocks in at just under two hours. I was invested in every scene, with the depth of the story very tangible and realistic despite the brutal violence.
Violent Ends is a very impressive offering from John-Michael Powell in only his second feature-length film. An independent film that looks like it could have come from a major studio, Violent Ends is an impressive drama wrapped in a bloody thriller. I love finding movies like this that sneak up on you and stick with you. As much as I have enjoyed seeing Billy Magnussen in supporting roles throughout his career, this represents one of the most impressive performances of the year and a hallmark of his filmography. Many great stories have been adapted into television shows or limited series to expand offerings on streaming platforms. At the same time, dozens of low-quality flicks flood the market with lackluster productions, causing movies like Violent Ends to get lost in the shuffle. I hope this one finds an audience, as it is one of the most entertaining movies I have watched this year.
Violent Ends opens in theaters on October 31st.
