In a world defined by shaky morals, someone always pays. With its grimy atmosphere and writer/director Bruce Wabbit’s reinvigorated creative flourishes, The River City Ransom finds an entire agglomeration on the brink of collapse. Election polls are closing as incoming Mayor Nicole Costa (Nicolina Podilski) overtakes Former Mayor Kevin Adams (Matt Palmer), whose controversial drug policies have the downtown southside of town in shambles. Counterbalancing that is Commissioner Ford, (Rory B. Gardner) who is at odds with Costa in a power struggle over operational procedure. Down at the precinct, Captain Donavan (John Gillich) has his hands full, assigning hard-nosed Officer Matt Reese (Jeremy Parnell) to investigate a case of a missing officer who stumbled into something sinister.
Wabbit’s in fine form in the director’s seat, continuing his descent into the morally ambiguous space of crime and justice that was briefly established in his previous short, Off/Guard. The River City Ransom thrives on murky locations and a signature split-screen editing trick for the conversation-driven scenes (á la Guy Ritchie), giving the film a pleasantly slick visual appeal.
The dialogue is where there’s clearly room for growth, as the film frequently coasts on blunt exposition in the face of serious political matters. Ford and Costa have a fascinating exchange, and while Wabbit’s dissection of law enforcement and city-wide corruption holds water, it’s sorely missing the subtlety of more seasoned writing. Going hand in hand with the script is the overall quality of the editing, which can be extremely uneven. A lot of the cuts can feel abrupt or unbalanced, while longer ones rely on more coordinated blocking, and nuanced character moments are few and far between.
The worldbuilding is where the film really comes to play as it thrusts an unassuming Reese into situations he really didn’t sign up for. Parnell is a capable lead among his strong ensemble, revealed to be a potential pawn in a game he knows little about. You can sense his unease at every turn, and Wabbit does a solid job slowly cranking the tension knob; the opening sequence in particular is fabulously executed and serves as the kind of memorable set piece that not only blurs the line between genres, but also serves as a major plot point reintroduced later in the story.
Bleak in tone but altogether intriguing from a conceptual standpoint, with a solid performance from Jeremy Parnell as a police officer out of his depth, The River City Ransom should please fans of more modern procedural thrillers.
