Anti-heroes come in all different forms, but my favorite has to be The Punisher, best represented on screen thus far by the Netflix series starring Jon Bernthal. Line of Fire, written by Christopher Gist and directed by Scott Major, follows a cop out for vengeance after facing personal tragedy, much like the iconic Marvel character. The film focuses on policewoman Samantha Romans (Nadine Garner), who fails to stop a school shooting, which results in her son being murdered. To make matters even worse, a struggling blogger named Jamie Connard (Samantha Tolj) will not stop pestering Samantha for an interview about the tragic shooting and her failure to heroically save the day.
The first half of Line of Fire shows all of the negative media attention that Samantha garners, constantly being called a coward. At the same time, her police chief throws her under the bus in a television interview. Then, Jamie fans the flames by releasing mean-spirited videos on the matter while relentlessly texting and calling Samantha for an interview. Finally, Samantha warns Jamie on the phone that “hurt people, hurt others.”
Even Jamie’s husband Greg (Brett Cousins) says that she should leave Samantha alone, but she is too caught up in the pride, fame, and money at stake to listen. But Jamie takes things even further by sending a personal picture that sets Samantha off the deep end, which then kicks off a cat-and-mouse game of revenge involving Jamie’s family. At this halfway point, I felt like I was in store for a fun and straightforward thriller, but the story turns darker and a bit more convoluted than I had anticipated.
“…Jamie takes things even further…which then kicks off a cat-and-mouse game of revenge…”
The two lead actresses, Nadine Garner and Samantha Tolj do a fantastic job of building dramatic tension while going through various emotions. Tolj’s character is so easy to dislike with her smugness at first, but she gains some sympathy as Line of Fire progresses. Garner’s character has the opposite arc, where we feel sympathetic for her pain, but the story tries to push us away from that. Both actresses gave nuanced performances that really made this film work from beginning to end.
The character of John Kolt (Damian Walshe-Howling) provides some action-packed scenes by trying to protect Jamie with some mixed martial arts moves, along with gunfire battles. Samantha proves that she’s a badass cop (and also former military) by going toe to toe with Kolt, as opposed to simply picking on weak and fragile Jamie.
Line of Fire introduces shades of gray to the characters in order to make them deeper, but simpler is better at certain times with storytelling, in my opinion. Everything was set up plot-wise for a satisfying revenge thriller, but it felt like some of the steam from the sails got let out a bit by all the twists and turns. It’s still an enjoyable movie and definitely less predictable than I thought it would be.
If you’re in the mood for a dark revenge thriller with terrific acting, then Line of Fire has got you covered.
"…a dark revenge thriller with terrific acting..."
