In Brian A. Metcalf’s A Crime Story, one act of mercy during a botched hit sets off a chain of events that two assassins — and a handful of innocent bystanders — will spend the rest of the film trying to survive.
Tony (Mark Pellegrino) and Daryl (Niko Foster) are professional assassins who have worked together for a long time and know that there is a sliver of goodness in the other. That trust gets tested when a hit goes sideways, and a young teen ends up in the crossfire. Tony refuses to let the kid die — so he takes out everyone on the job except Daryl. The fallout is immediate. The two men can’t be seen together anymore, and they go their separate ways.
Daryl changes his name to Sammy and buys a rundown motel in Las Vegas. His crew is a collection of misfits: Oren (William Forsythe), the street-smart handyman; Ahn (Brian A. Metcalf); Crystal (Nicky Whelan), who runs the front desk; and Marina (Kelly Arjen), a homeless immigrant Sammy hires off the street just to give her a shot. Meanwhile, Tony uses his alliance with the deadly poison expert, Erica (Charlene Amoia), to claw his way back into the good graces of the mafia.
As Daryl…now Sammy…informs his staff that the motel is headed toward bankruptcy unless something drastic happens, a drug dealer named Gunner checks into the motel, causes problems, and ends up dead at the hands of the motel staff. Sammy finds the stash Gunner was carrying and makes a decision: sell the drugs, fix up the motel, and nobody has to know. But, of course, it’s never that easy because several factions within the mafia want those drugs and are willing to kill the motel staff and each other for it.
Ahn (Brian A. Metcalf) and Crystal (Nicky Whelan) react to an escalating situation in A Crime Story.
“Sammy finds the stash Gunner was carrying and makes a decision: sell the drugs, fix up the motel, and nobody has to know.”
I’m a sucker for a good mob movie. Always have been. So when A Crime Story landed on my screener list, I was already leaning in. What caught me off guard is that most of the action takes place at a rundown motel in Las Vegas. Somehow, that choice makes everything more interesting and screams indie film at the same time. Director Brian A. Metcalf isn’t playing with the usual gangster film beats. This isn’t good guys versus bad guys. There are factions everywhere, and just about all of them want each other dead, and our hapless staff’s lives are in constant peril.
The part that really works is how the film drops ordinary people into the middle of all this mafia mayhem. Sammy runs the motel. He tries to pay a fair wage and gives his good-hearted staff a chance. He even hires a homeless woman off the street because it’s the right thing to do. These are not criminals. And then — several bad decisions later — they’re burying a body in the desert and sitting on a stolen drug supply. It’s easy to put yourself in their shoes, and that’s the point. Do I know how to use a gun? Can I outwit assassins? Nope. That tension — normal people trying to survive something they have no business being involved in — is what keeps A Crime Story moving.
Then there is the mob element to the tale. There’s a ruthlessness to how everyone else operates. Our heroes are confronted with every reason to stay alive and every reason they need to die. Fear is the tool used to make them comply. An honest group forced into impossible decisions. I mean, nobody wakes up and decides to become part of a drug war. Sometimes it falls in your lap like a box of rocks.
A Crime Story is not The Godfather, but it’s good old indie-film fun. For a film about assassins and drug wars, it has a surprising amount of heart, and that’s what keeps it from feeling like every other crime thriller you’ve seen.
"…Do I know how to use a gun?...Nope."
