Walking Tall
Directed by Kevin Bray
- adventure
- drama
- action
- thriller
The story
A former U.S. soldier returns to his hometown to find it overrun by crime and corruption, which prompts him to clean house.
What it’s like
Hard-edged small-town daylight: sun-bleached strip roads, dusty pickups, flat Washington-state-style timber country and dim, cluttered casino and bar interiors lit by harsh fluorescents and neon signs. The camera stays fairly conventional and kinetic, with quick cuts in the brawls, wide establishing shots of the town, and a driving rock-and-country-tinged score that pushes the fight scenes forward. Its vibe is gritty, brawny and straightforward, with a grim undertow of corruption and a hometown that feels worn down. The pacing builds steadily toward violence, which is frequent, bloody and often brutal: fistfights, beatings, a torture sequence, and gunplay, with gore shown plainly rather than lingered on. Expect tense, sometimes cruel scenes, none of it gentle. The central arc is a damaged veteran pushed back into the violence he thought he'd left behind, reluctantly taking on a corrupt power structure one fight at a time. It suits a Friday night with friends, a single-minded action craving, or fans of one-man-against-the-town revenge stories who don't mind the harshness.
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