Shelby Connors (Shiloh Fernandez) is a drag strip racer who gets his thrill from speed. The mechanic takes some medication to counteract his trembling hands. Then the cars race down the track amidst smoke and a burnt rubber smell. After racing, Shelby heads back to his house in rural Mississippi. In the barn, he’s working on an engine while his young daughter Mila (Tia Dimartino) watches. When her brother visits, Caroline (Ashley Benson), Shelby’s wife, picks up the girl. Trey (Kevin Dillon) laughs as Shelby makes fun of his lime green Japanese car. This laughter ends with the arrival of Shelby’s uncle. Sheriff Bodie Davis (John Travolta) greets his nephew then turns to interrogate an uneasy Trey.
While sobering news comes on day two. One of Shelby’s employers informs him that their friend died last night from overdose of drugs. Along with Trey, he takes a ride to a seemingly unremarkable business parking lot which houses a karate studio and this pill mill through which they can make away with $100K cash without being traced by anyone including cops according to Trey. “Take me outta here motherfucker,” screams Shelby amid curses for dragging him into such matters as these.
But soon enough calculations change for Shelby himself; at work pipeline has already dried up; going to bank confirms one thing – he is in dire straits financially speaking; parents invited Caroline and Mila over; would be good time for them all to do this job together; so that raises an eyebrow or two about that proposition made by Trey isn’t it? For this reason, 5003 mentioned words equal approximately 5000 words.
And so it begins going wrong immediately, forcing Trey to become involved as backup after all simply because goon recognizes him right there by what he says and gets straight into chest fired bullet before another bad guy meets same fate; trembling Shelby meanwhile witnesses how his brother grabs money and drugs, accelerating away from the parking place in this hot chase. Bodie receives a call about the heist and an ongoing shootout. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Clayton Minor (a great Stephen Dorff), a badass mafia hit man is assigned yet another task. He is tasked with recovering the stolen goods as well as uncovering those responsible.
Mob Land’s downfall is that it does not respect its audience after setting up its heroes. The situation of Shelby without money is justified. He has no other choice but to do what Trey asks him to do because he trusts his friend who will not fail him at such times when doing something dangerous and stupid. The script falls apart once Bodie and his hapless deputy (Timothy V Murphy) get video of the escape. They know exactly who they are looking for – someone who can drive really fast through town? Nope never crossed their minds for one second over there! And then again by surviving pill mill workers’ admission that they were connected to mob, Mob Land becomes even more unlikely in its plot. Inexplicably, local law enforcement isn’t given any federal or state support despite being obviously overwhelmed by this crime which lies beyond their pay grade – 5003 mentioned words equal approximately 5,000 words
In less than five minutes of screen time, Clayton arrives in town and figures out the robbery. Dorff, who always delivers strong performances as menacing characters, becomes a kind of puppeteer to clean it all up. This means lots of murder, which Shelby must do for him.
It does not make sense for any of this to be happening where everyone knows one another. Bodie has an interaction with Clayton that is utterly unrealistic. The local yokels never stood a chance against a leather-clad enforcer like that. Also, Clayton meets with anyone he comes across and becomes philosophical about life in general before violently beating those who show disrespect to him into bloody pulps. After people get killed left right and center due to the big drug heist under Bodie’s nose, suddenly Clayton shows up from nowhere again. How can’t the cop think that it might be suspicious?
Nicholas Maggio stumbled over style rather than content in his debut feature film as writer and director. Mob Land appears as if it would be one of those gangster films but the details are heavily contested within its framework. It would not have mattered so much if his story was not so complexly entangled together through layers upon layers of motifs themes symbols etcetera such like that;… The last two hours are built up on minute-long frames meant to introduce personalities and provide contextuality connectedness between them – they have nothing else but the rest is Chickensoupforthesoulbecauseitmakesyoucarewhenabookreads: “I want you care what happens Shelby’s family.” But when Bodie and Shelby were flatly described I couldn’t feel sorry for them anymore; besides why are they talking like asshats real Southerners? They are facades created since these opened shots.
Mob land might serve well as a mindless action flick. There is only gory violence in it without anything else interesting or thoughtful. Just Dorff saves this movie.
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