Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
“The lone surviving thief of a violent bank robbery is sprung from a high security facility and administered an experimental drug.” Director: Brian A. MillerWriter: Mike MaplesStaring: Ryan Guzman, Sylvester […]
“The lone surviving thief of a violent bank robbery is sprung from a high security facility and administered an experimental drug.”
Director: Brian A. Miller
Writer: Mike Maples
Staring: Ryan Guzman, Sylvester Stallone, Meadow Williams, Christopher McDonald, Colin Egglesfield, Lydia Hull, Tyler Jon Oldson, Sergio Rizzuto, Swen Temmel, Matthew Modine
Release Date: December 14, 2018
IMDB
Backtrace (2018) is not what you are thinking it is. If you are thinking it’s an action film with Sylvester Stallone in the lead as the head detective trying to solve a ghastly crime before more bodies are dropped, then you are wrong.
This low budget crime thriller, and I mean really low budget, is an amnesia film with Matthew Modine as the lead actor. Despite this fact, Modine is the tenth actor on the cast list on IMDB.com. To give IMDB and the public relations representatives of Backtrace a break, Stranger Things Season Four was not a worldwide phenomenon yet so Modine’s face was not as recognizable when this movie was released.
Oh, and for readers who still don’t know who Modine is, he is Dr. Martin Brenner from Stranger Things, the conundrum-inducing papa of Eleven.
Donovan MacDonald is one of a few men who have taken part in a bank heist worth millions of dollars. The start of Backtrace shows MacDonald and his crew trying to close the deal, but there is an unexpected hiccup. Who could have guessed? MacDonald is on the run from an assailant and he gets hurt. He knocks his head. He forgets who he is.
Flash forward and MacDonald is in prison living a life of secluded mystery. His subdued existence is thrown into a frenzy when he is sprung from a high security prison and brought to an unexpected, but familiar home. Within the walls of this vacant house, MacDonald is administered an experimental drug that has the potential to bring back his memory.
His freers want the old man’s memory back because he is the only one who knows where the money is. That treasure he was double-crossed about was never found.
Enter Sylvester Stallone, and Shooter McGavin. Wait, what? Yes, Christopher McDonald is in Backtrace and he plays Special Agent Franks.He has arrived at a police headquarters which is helmed by Detective Sykes, who is played by Stallone. Sykes has been checking in on MacDonald because it is a case he was never able to solve. Now it has fresh legs with his breakout from prison, but his optimism is being clouded by Franks. There is something nefarious about him.
The back third of Backtrace is the resolution of the story, and it is both preposterous and boring all at the same time. It ends like many Stallone movies do, even if he isn’t the main actor in this particular story. There is a twist, a shootout, an acceptance. Backtrace doesn’t tread any new ground. It reverses over many familiar tropes and gets stuck in the mud of its formulaic approach.
Backtrace seems like it was filmed in a week with no second takes. There are four primary locations, and they just blocked out those days and called it a day. You have the prison, the cop shop, the old home of the MacDonalds and the factory where the eldest Macdonald stored the money. There is a sharp, stinking scent of “let’s get this done and in the hopper.” Making a movie is not easy, and with that in mind, it feels like absolute garbage to call Backtrace out for not only poor execution, but also poor effort.
Backtrace is streaming on Netflix. If you find it there, give it a thumbs down and don’t bother watching.
STANKO RATING: D
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