Somewhere between Martin Campbell’s Edge of Darkness and Phillip Noyce’s Blind Fury, you’ll encounter the stripped-down brilliance that is writer-director Evan Ari Kelman’s Barron’s Cove. A picture as much about fathers and sons as it is about the gravity of the lessons fathers pass down, and the fathers those sons turn out to be.
Garrett Hedlund headlines as Caleb, a man of questionable character with a fractured and shadowy past, who works with his uncle Benji (Stephen Lang) at keeping things business as usual until Caleb’s son Barron is killed horrendously in an accident on the train tracks. But all is not as it appears.
Was Barron’s death an accident? Benji presses Caleb to allow him to see to it that justice is served, but the grieving father cannot allow sleeping dogs to lie. Once he discovers that the son of the resident politician, Ethan (Christian Convery), knows the truth surrounding his son’s demise, things get even more harried. Torn apart mentally, Caleb besets Ethan at each turn to learn his secret, though each time he is driven back. Finally, Caleb seizes the opportunity, following Ethan being hit by a car trying to escape him, to abduct the source of his torment and take Ethan to a hidden location to pry what the boy knows from him.
“Caleb seizes the opportunity…to abduct the source of his torment and take Ethan to a hidden location.”
After threats and intimidation fail, suddenly Ethan confesses to a dark plot surrounding himself and the man everyone knows as his father. Caleb is then emotionally driven to assist Ethan in freeing himself from a fate worse than death. Forced onto the road, Caleb moves by the back roads and hidden acquaintances as a bounty is added to his head.
As Caleb and Ethan flee the authorities and hired hit-men, they teach each other about the roles of fathers and sons, whilst at the same time discover the darkness that drives broken people to break people, only to build them back up so they can keep on breaking anyone who tries to love them for their unacceptable selves. The pair also learn how similar they are, and how they are both the product of impatience and intolerance.
Kelman, together with his cast and crew, deserves generous applause for constructing a tight, no-frills type of action thriller that was all the rage thirty years ago. Barron’s Cove is yet another example of how you don’t need Michael Bay-sized exploitation to generate an exciting, suspenseful experience with a resounding subtext that satisfies. It is also great to see Garrett Hedlund back in a leading role. The man has talent, as exhibited in films like On the Road. It would be great to see him take on more edgy characters because he knows how to command a scene.
Truth is, they have conditioned the audience to consider films like Barron’s Cove as second-screen experiences. And it’s a shame because what’s on display here is raw-edged intensity coupled with heart and meaning. It’s rare that something as formulaic as an action thriller could be so moving. We have to fight for the things we love. For love is eternally worth fighting for.
For more information, visit the Barron’s Cove official Instagram page.
"…raw-edged intensity coupled with heart and meaning."
