Film Review: 'Abstruse'

It was supposed to be a fun night. Having been scraping by a living as a bartender, Amanda London (Kaiti Wallen) found herself accepting an invitation to join her friend Mindy (Jessika Johnson) for a night with Justin Stevens (Kris Reilly), a wealthy regular at the club whose tips are much needed by Amanda. But after Mindy winds up dead at the hands of Justin, Amanda finds herself trapped in a nightmare as her struggles to get justice for her friend are met with skepticism from the police and retaliation from Justin, whose senator father (Dennis Haskins) is intent on protecting his political career at any cost.

Thankfully, Amanda has her father Max (Tom Sizemore) on her side, who has just been released from prison for assault and is willing to do whatever is necessary to protect his daughter. But with Justin proving to be more insane than anyone could imagine and having a plethora of resources at his disposal, who will emerge from this web of violence intact?

As the previously reviewed Hex revealed in painful detail, a film with a slow-building plot has to do two things to avoid total disaster: 1. Make sure the pace is slow enough to build intrigue without inducing boredom and 2. Give something that will reward the audience for their patience. Thankfully, Abstruse more than succeeds where Hex flopped, and proves to be a suspenseful crime thriller that is sure to keep a viewer locked to their screen once the plot hits its stride.

Written and directed by Harley Wallen, the same person responsible for Eternal Code, Abstruse is another crime drama that, while taking a bit longer to get its plot in motion, follows in Eternal Code's footsteps of cultivating an intense thrill ride of a story. While the plot-triggering event that brings the story from 0 to 60 takes a bit of a suspension of disbelief to stomach, it serves as the gateway to Abstruse's enjoyably intense plot and is one that keeps the viewer at rapt attention, waiting to see how far Justin will go to keep his secret and how deep his warped mind goes.

Justin is played by Kris Reilly, who's clearly having a blast as this rich, violent, smug, and unfathomably psychotic villain. While Justin's initial transformation from misogynistic "Frat Boy Douche" type to full-blown lunatic feels rather abrupt, Reilly slides into the transition with ease and shines as Justin quickly morphs into a villain who you'll be waiting with anticipation to see get his just desserts. Alongside Justin is his considerably more stable but nonetheless corrupt senator father, who is played with understated malice by Dennis Haskins (anyone who remembers him as Mr. Belding will be in for a shock). While you may find yourself rooting for Senator Stevens as he works to put a stop to his deranged son, you'll also revile as he proves himself just as ruthless as Justin when it comes to protecting his own interests. WARNING: SPOILER ALERT Harley Wallen, like in Eternal Code, also makes an appearance in Abstruse as villainous underling Detective Caldwell, and like Haskins, plays the part with a downplayed menace as we see him morph from casually callous to an outright smug and uncaring dirty cop as Caldwell shows he's not above getting blood on his hands to cover up his deeds. SPOILERS OVER

On the protagonist side of the equation, Kaiti Wallen goes from being a supporting character in Eternal Code to being the main heroine here, playing Amanda as a level-headed and likable lead to offset the slightly annoying vapidness seen in her co-workers, particularly Mindy. As we see Amanda's struggles to scrap together a living as a bartender and the complicated situation with her father, Wallen allows us to feel for Amanda before and especially after she finds herself roped into a nightmare of violent proportions. The same can be said regarding Jesi Jensen's achingly sympathetic portrayal of Amanda's friend Jess, who unexpectedly ends up in Justin's crosshairs in a particularly nightmarish way.

Another familiar face from Eternal Code is Angelina Danielle Cama as hacker ally Lucy, with Cama providing a much more natural performance here than she did as Miranda Pellegrini. Elsewhere in the strong supporting cast are Dennis Marin as Justin's sleazy but unsuspecting friend Daniel (a character who unfortunately wasn't utilized as much as he could've been), Henry Frost III as Max's genial but tough-as-nails friend Quinn, and Colleen Gentry as Claudia Stevens, who brings a poignancy to her character as she proves to be the only non-villainous member of her poisonous family.

Unfortunately, there's one member of the cast who drops the ball when it comes to performances, and it may surprise you if you've seen other reviews for Abstruse praising him: Tom Sizemore as Max London. First off, despite being given top billing on the poster pictured above as well as having his face take up the most space on it, Max is far from the most active character of the film, and is rendered unable to assist Amanda and the others for a good chunk of the third act. Secondly, despite having the most acting experience out of all of Abstruse's cast, Sizemore never quite felt stable in his portrayal of Max, nor did he ever exude much fatherly chemistry with Kaiti Wallen (I found myself imagining that it would've been better to have Henry Frost III as Max and Sizemore as Quinn). The fact that Max is a somewhat blandly written character--to the point where I mentally dubbed him "Second Hand Bryan Mills"--certainly doesn't help matters.

But apart from Sizemore's wooden performance, Abstruse is a worthy follow-up to Eternal Code, with its slow build leading into an intense thrill ride that keeps your attention locked on the action as the intensity rises into a crescendo. If you enjoyed Eternal Code, check out Abstruse for another thrill ride courtesy of Harley Wallen.

Score: 9 out of 10 zipties.