Bad Country (2014)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It's 1983. Baton Rouge police detective Bud Carter (Willem Dafoe) and his team's investigation leads to a powerful white power criminal organization. He arrests hardened criminal Jesse Weiland (Matt Dillon). While in prison, Jesse agrees to cooperate and reveals a hit-list against the authorities.This cast is amazing. Obviously, director Chris Brinker got his Boondock Saints alum Willem Dafoe in addition to a few favors being called in. It's Brinker directing debut and his death before finishing post production does not help the product. There are various issues. This is suppose to be based on a real story at a time and a place. The movie does not exude that time or place. They have the cars but the rest is not quite there. The easiest way to set up a time is the music and TV. The budget probably limits that and the songs are generic country rock. The story flow is a bit disrupted. It is ultimately saved by the veteran cast who brings a sense of menace in this crime noir B-movie. Any deficiencies are relieved by the actors' great work.

Nothing wrong with this film, good all round action entertainment. The fact that it is based on a true story adds a great deal of gravitas to the story. I also like that the producers chose to shoot the film in the South, where the real events happened. It has a great authentic feel to it. Recommended!

Let's get one thing straight: I rely heavily on IMDb average score and reviews. I could say that 9/10 times, IMDb has very accurately reflected the quality of any particular film. However, on the off occasion, it is an extremely non reliable source. In this instance, with Bad Country, I can't understand for the life of me the IMDb score and (some) of the really bad reviews. A movie with its kind of caliber deserves at the bare MINIMUM an average IMDb score of say 6.7/8, not to mention if I watched the film without checking the IMDb rating, I would be more-so expecting a rating of 7.2/3 which is what it most definitely justly deserves. It is quite unfortunate really because I almost did not watch this film due to the terrible rating and reviews. I would genuinely give it an 8.5/10, but for the purposes of this review, am rating it 10/10 in an attempt to push its rating higher.The story is very good, the action is realistic and gritty, the direction is great, the acting is superb and for any of those who think there was not sufficient character development I'm sorry to say is heavily incorrect. This is one of Matt Dillon's finest acting jobs and I was very sympathetic with his character through the entirety of the film. What can I say other than I highly recommend viewing of this film so that more people can appreciate it and its rating can possibly increase closer to what it deserves.

... and the answer of course is no.Since he first burst on scenes playing (not joking) Jesus, he has never been less than mesmerizing.(And his work in Shadow of the Vampire, 2000, never got the acclaim it deserved).I mention that because cops and robber movies have been around since the silent films but the performances of Dafoe playing against Dillon (never better here, strong physicality, amazing he never played bad guys before) is the heart and soul of this picture, and it keeps you glued to the screen.Interesting that they used a near-A lister like Amy Smart merely as eye candy, with almost no dialogue. Not that she was less than fetching, but it was an odd bit of casting.