How did Stefan Ruzowitzky, the Austrian director of the Oscar-winning concentration camp drama ‘The Counterfeiters’ (2007), end up directing this violent, by-the-numbers B-movie? Perhaps he mistook Zach Dean’s twisty, over-plotted script for a sub-Coen Brothers crime caper.
On the run after a pre-Thanksgiving casino heist, inseparable siblings Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde), are forced to split up after a near-fatal road accident. Dividing the stolen money, they head separately for the snowbound Canadian border. Liza is picked up by ex-con and one-time boxer Jay (Charlie Hunnam) while Addison goes on a ‘survival-at-all-costs’ killing spree before taking husband and wife Chet (Kris Kristofferson) and June (Sissy Spacek) hostage in their isolated home. They just so happen to be Jay’s parents, so Liza and Jay end up there too.
Like all over-ambitious B-movies, this features solid performances by a mix of seasoned talent and promising young actors, all of whom deserve better. Treat Williams plays a veteran cop on the fugitive pair’s trail and Kate Mara is excellent as the rookie cop trying to impress her father.