Three recently unemployed young men plan a bank heist.
Directed by: Eric OrtizStarring: Eric Ortiz, Anthony Ashmore, Jereme Badger
Exit 727 is the story of Dominic, his brother Michael, and their friend, Ben, trying to find their own version of the American Dream. After losing their construction job, the three quickly become entangled in a scheme to rob a bank with a former crew member that also lost his job because of their antics toward their annoyingly abusive boss. The plan seems simple enough; kidnap the bank manager’s kid and hold him until the guys get clear of any trouble. Sadly, for everyone involved, the guy they are pulling the job with is an aggressively over paranoid, shoot-first-ask-questions-later type, so when Michael foolishly befriends the kid, things spiral out of control.
The film boasts that it is a true story, but the generic tale doesn’t gain anything from that fact, and like most films that claim to be based in reality, the viewer has to take that knowledge with a grain of salt. Honestly, it annoys me how easily films toss the true story claim around. The filmmakers know that some viewers believe everything they see and hear blindly, and the fact that something so tragic could happen to real people is apparently supposed to make a more compelling story. It often doesn’t, and certainly doesn’t add to anything here. For all I know, the filmmakers heard a story about a bank robbery in Florida, then just wrote the story from whatever they imagined actually happened. If that’s the case, then every heist film in history is then based on real events. Ultimately, the whole thing is a cheap trick to get people in the seats.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the true story deal doesn’t ruin anything with the film; it’s just something that bugs me. What hurts the film is the lackluster script that paints a highly predictable story of these characters, who are un-relatable douchebags that, through their own stupidity, put themselves into a situation where their lives, and more importantly the lives of innocent bystanders, are in jeopardy. You never get to know any of the characters below the surface, mostly because the script never tries to dive into any of the characters in any real way. The uneven acting throughout the film and its shortness also contribute to this, but those may also be attributed to the micro-budget holding back the real potential here.
The film is well-shot for such a low budget and for a first time filmmaker, so maybe with a better script and more experienced actors there will be potential for a compelling looking film. Ultimately, though, the film is a forgettable secondhand Spring Breakers. Exit 727 tries to explore the dark side of the American dream ; that is, to live life on the beach and party all the time without a care in the world, but it fails to pack any emotional punch.
3/10
Andy Comer