CRESCENT CITY
(director: RJ Collins; screenwriter: Rich Ronat; cinematographer: Alex Salahi; editor: Eric Potter; music: Josh Atchley; cast: Terrence Howard (Brian Sutter), Esai Morales (Luke Carson), Alec Baldwin (Captain Howell), Nicky Whelan (Jaclyn Waters), Michael Sirow (Pastor Lawrence), Weston Cage Coppola (Travis Reed), Anjul Nigam (Gopal Sharma, church janitor), Reema Sampat (Elena Sutter), Eduard Osipov (Ricky Maccallum), Nikita Kahn (Marcy McCallum), Rose Lane Sanfilippo (Sabrina Harris); Runtime: 103; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Denise Loren, Eduard Osipov, Vince Lolivette, David Lipper, Robert A. Daly Jr.; Lionsgate; 2024)
“The disjointed film left me not caring about who is the killer.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
RJ Collins (“Boneyard”/”Don’t Suck”) directs and Rich Ronat writes this uninspired crime thriller about a serial killer with satanic cult connections. Furthermore its pacing is out of sync, its characters are one-dimensional and its story is muddled.
In Little Rock, Arkansas, the sensitive police detective Bruce Sutter (Terrence Howard) is a churchgoing family man, who in flashbacks is shown to be still haunted by a past drug bust. His partner Luke Carson (Esai Morales) is his opposite in personality, who is gruff and has the nickname “Dirty Harry.” He’s a bad-ass cop with little scruples. Their police boss, Captain Howell (Alec Baldwin), is stressed-out over a serial killer on the loose and of a fearful public calling for an arrest as the body count rises. He therefore adds an attractive Australian cop, Jaclyn Waters (Nicky Whelan), a transfer from Tulsa, to the investigating team to see if she can help get things moving in the investigation.
Sutter is receptive to her, but Carson turns against her when she turns down his sexual advances.
The plot is filled with absurd twists that have a lot to do with the sexual activities in Sutter’s church.
The disjointed film left me not caring about who is the killer or, for that matter, why Crescent City is Little Rock and not New Orleans.
REVIEWED ON 9/15/2024 GRADE: C-
dennisschwartzreviews.com