From the title The Standoff at Sparrow Creek sounded to me that the movie is a western involving a good deal of Native American angst. Well that’s not the case at all. It’s a crime drama that’s more of a test of wills centered on a mystery of sorts. In this movie you’ll have to put on your guessing caps and get ready to have many cerebral moments. In fact the whole film, down to the final minutes, is a test of your patience to stay focused on the “who done it” storyline.
In this rural town, in addition to police, they have a militia made up of ex-military and ex-cops. In fact there’s several militia’s in surrounding areas as well being used by nearby cities. The voluntary group’s job is to backup law enforcement in the event of a mass shooting or a catastrophe.
On this day we find one such militia with a problem. There’s been a shooting at a local cemetery during the funeral of a cop. The perpetrator used an automatic weapon, several grenades and armor piercing ammo killing a lot of people. The only military grade rifle that can be classified as automatic is the AR-15’s and it’s not available to the general public. So eyes are on the area militias to identify how this possibly could have happened and who the killer may be.
When the Sparrow Creek militia finds one of their AR-15’s missing from the locked armory, they call in Gannon, one of their former leaders who has been estranged from the group. Not having a key, he will be interrogating the militia members to get to the bottom of the killings. When things start getting out of hand with each accusing the others, Gannon has to step up his game with some unconventional tactics.
Director and writer Henry Dunham has a tough job ahead of him and that’s to keep the audience focused on each of the 6 men who are the only ones with keys to the gun room. He puts his characters in a locked warehouse that’s headquarters for the militia and has Gannon take each of the men into a room to see if he can tell which one had the biggest motive, had no alibi and is quick enough to pull off the shooting of over 400 rounds, grenades and flash-bangers. His film however, only takes place in the one warehouse and the interrogations are constant. The only variety is the change of personalities and follow up on accusations that “one of the other men did it”.
It’s a grueling film that gets a little tedious, but that’s because the script would not work unless you can get the audience to flip back and forth on who they think did the crime. While the film does that, it’s too much of a wait to gather all the evidence and figure who’s telling the truth. The downside, it leave the audience hanging out to dry until the final moment.
The acting is very good, but there performances are dulled down by the constant interrogations. There’s very little action in the first hour. Even the initial killings at the cemetery are not depicted to add early excitement and showing the gravity of what has happened. Only radio descriptions are heard by the audience on what may be going on beyond the warehouse and its conjecture on the part of some of the men who tell what they heard on the way to the Militia headquarters.
The Standoff at Sparrow Creek has not been rated, but contains violence and language. Be cautious when deciding to allow immature children see the film as it does have some scenes that are inappropriate for youngsters. The film is available on DVD and Blu-ray.
FINAL ANALYSIS: It’s one big long and drawn out interrogation with not enough excitement. (2 out of 5 Stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: James Badge Dale, Brian Geraghty, Patrick Fischler, Happy Anderson, Robert Aramayo, Gene Jones, Chris Mulkey, Bret Porter, Cotter Smith, Nichole Abshire, James Healy, Jr.,
Director and writer: Henry Dunham
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, contains language, violence
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller, Noir
Running Time: 1 hr. 28 min.
Video Release Date: March 5, 2019
Original Theatrical Release Date: January 18, 2019
Language: English
Reviewed Format: Blu-ray
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Number of Discs: 1 disc
Distributed by: RLJE Films
Released in: Blu-ray, DVD
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
