Some guys just can’t catch a break, and some guys never got one from the start. Joel Veach’s American Muscle is the story of a man whose last shot at freedom depends on everything going exactly right, and what kind of movie would this be if that happened?
Ray (David Thompson) is a mechanic who runs his father’s auto shop in the middle of nowhere. His father is lying on his deathbed, ringing a bell whenever he needs something. Ray has one serious problem. He owes a loan shark $100,000, and once his dad is dead, Ray will collect his life insurance policy, pay off his debt, and finally be free from his father’s iron fist.
Like all perfect plans, this one isn’t. With his father still alive, two men arrive at the shop. One (Brendan Sexton III) and Two (Gbenga Akinnagbe), a pair of well-dressed enforcers from out of town. They are there to collect payment in full: $150,000, including interest. When Ray can’t pay, their next step is to break his arm for their trouble. Before One can use the full force of a lead pipe on Ray, his estranged sister, Maggie (Liana Wright-Mark), appears. Her arrival forces One and Two to leave, as they can’t have witnesses.
Maggie is there to pay her last respects to her dirtbag father, but soon finds herself caught up in Ray’s trouble. In fact, her attempt to rectify the situation the next day with One and Two backfires massively, and Ray is on a desperate mission to find a crap ton of cash — one that involves a local drug dealer (Jorge Garcia) and a tarot card reader (Lauren Glazier) whom One and Two visited on a lark.
“He owes a loan shark $100,000, and once his dad is dead, Ray will collect his life insurance policy, pay off his debt, and finally be free from his father’s iron fist.”
What I love about American Muscle is that it sets the stakes high at the start and cranks them higher and higher as each minute passes. Its slow reveal builds massive momentum all the way, keeping me off balance, off guard, and totally in on this roller coaster ride. Great movies make you feel, and the tension of this film comes from a complex storyline that has me running the final outcome through my mind even now. Nothing is as it seems, and there’s always something a little deeper going on underneath.
Along with a complex plot are complex characters. It’s not hard to root for Ray and Maggie…mostly Maggie. Ray is the guy who screws up at life, making one bad decision after another. Will he finally turn things around this time? Maggie wisely left her dysfunctional family long ago and unwittingly finds herself caught up in Ray’s s**t. She has a heart of gold that One and Two use to their advantage.
Speaking of One and Two, at first, they feel like copies of Vincent and Jules from Pulp Fiction, but you quickly realize it’s more complex than that. Their conversations are mundane on purpose — it’s how they take their minds off a job that boils down to hurting people who fall behind on payments. It’s the difference between being intelligent and being completely disconnected from what you do for a living. And what about that tarot card reader?
I just love the way writer-director Joel Veach presents his script and paces American Muscle to the finish. He keeps us off balance and keeps things moving right up to the end. Hollywood wants to make a thriller about stars playing killers and their victims. Instead, Veach crafted a thriller about people like you and me.
"…unwittingly finds herself caught up in Ray's shit."
