Cold In July
Director: Jim Mickle
Actors: Don Johnson
Release Date: Saturday 30th November 2013
Genre(s): Drama, Thriller
Running time: France minutes
Waking up to find an intruder in his home, Richard (Michael C Hall) goes into protective mode for the sake of his wife and young child, and ends up killing the burglar. During the subsequent police investigation, it's discovered that the guy Richard killed is the son of notorious criminal Russel (Sam Shephard), who takes it upon himself to exact revenge upon Richard's family.
From there things get more convoluted, with the plot twisting and turning and every twenty minutes or so into the boundaries of a new genre before moving on again. Starting off as a home invasion thriller, then morphing into a police conspiracy, then with the arrival of private detective Jim Bob (Don Johnson) it switches into an Elmore Leonard-inspired black comedy, before finally settling into something much darker, Cold In July never sits still long enough for you to be anything less than enthralled and entirely absorbed.
The trifecta of leading men here are uniformly excellent, doing fantastic character work within characters that are at times a little undefined. Richard is a sensitive man lost in a world of hyper-masculinity, and while his arc is understandable, the explanation he's given for getting there is a little anaemic. Same goes for Russel and Jim Bob, both fantastically realised tough guys, but their actions are all show don't tell, so it often feels like they're doing things just because the plot dictated it, and not for any real purposeful reason.
On the flip-side, writer/director Jim Mickle is an absolute master of tone, skipping effortlessly from one genre to the next, and nailing the late 80s setting, right down to the John Carpenter-esque synth-score. Borrowing from the 80’s master continues on elsewhere, with the repurposing of some plot elements you might find in a Wild West movie made to fit into a more modern setting, much like the Carpenter did with the likes of Assault On Precinct 13.
A rough and tough old school thriller that's not afraid to pull any punches, even Cold In July’s faults only add to its vicious personality.
