Written and directed by Phil Blattenberger, at the dawn of the Cold War, two U.S. Marshals pursue a wanted murderer in the deserts of Nevada. Starring: Jacob Keohane, Jackson Rathbone, Dermot Mulroney, Keith Carradine, Forrie J. Smith, Graham Greene, Harvey Keitel, Richard Brake, James Urbaniak, Christopher El and Kelly Lynn Reiter.
One of the elements that’s going to immediately stand out for Laws of Man is the cast list, there’s a wealth of familiar faces who have been in a huge number of crime and action flicks. Realistically, it’s not a bad strategy to have that tie-in with the genre fanbase, even if the story doesn’t click with them, they’ll likely still enjoy it for the performances and that’s actually pretty much how this one goes.
Dermot Mulroney is surprisingly good in this role, he’s undoubtedly a reliable actor with every role but it feels like he has a lot of fun playing the bad guy here. It exemplifies exactly what Laws of Man needed more of, to simply go for it and embrace the theatricality and focus on having a good time. Unfortunately, it gets far too distracted creating a story line that eventually tries to create a much bigger finale than it has the skills or foundation to pull off.
Not only that, but it spends a lot of time building a traumatic backstory for its leading U.S. Marshal, Frank (Jacob Keohane) and it’s entirely unnecessary. It also struggles with the dialogue, it’s beat for beat out of the crime playbook and doesn’t build much of its own personality. The way that it progresses is akin to a poor man’s Rebel Ridge, it doesn’t have that intensity or action but does have a similar, small-town, power in the wrong hands feel.
Although, there is a little more personality to its style, Phil Blattenberger uses a lot of modern techniques, but it has a foundation that feels driven by old-school western and mafia films. There may not be a tonne of action but there are a few great shoot-outs and dramatic face-offs which inject some decent tension into the mix.
Something that’s helped by Mulroney’s presence, he plays off of Keohane and Jackson Rathbone really well. There’s also a good rapport between Keohane and Rathbone, their partnership is a big part of what keeps you glued in. Their characters can be a little too stuffy or cliched but they’re entertaining, nonetheless.
There’s a lot of good intentions and some solid ingredients at work with Laws of Man but it simply needed to have more fun. Having such a fantastic mix of actors, it was a hugely missed opportunity to create something that was pure entertainment. Not getting caught up in emotional issues or conspiracies, just good old fashioned good guys vs bad guys with bullets and threats flying everywhere. So, unfortunately what we actually get is slightly disappointing but still worth the watch.
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