Warning Shot (2018)

Directed by: Dustin Fairbanks | 90 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Tammy Blanchard, Guillermo Díaz, David Spade, Frank Whaley, Dwight Henry, Onata Aprile, Bruce Dern, James Earl Jones, Steve Eastin, Niki Koss, Dustie Hale, Robert Johnson, Alexandra Intrator

Single Audrey struggles to make ends meet. When her grandfather dies, she inherits the family farm, including the associated water rights. However, the legacy thwarts the plans of Bobby, the grandson of an old business rival to Audrey’s grandfather. Bobby wants to take over the family business from his grandfather Calvin, but with his own water rights. He takes the law into his own hands and hires two men to intimidate Audrey and her daughter Cheyenne into relinquishing water rights. But Audrey doesn’t give up easily, so the confrontation with her hostage takers quickly gets out of hand.

‘Warning Shot’ is based on a true story, as we can already read at the beginning of the film. Despite this, the script is unfortunately not equally strong and cohesive everywhere. For example, the film is lavishly interspersed with meaningless dialogue and moderately successful attempts at humorous interludes. For example, the scenes in which characters are explained that a gun is something other than a gun feel very much like screen filling and play absolutely no functional role within the overarching plot. Continuity is also sometimes hard to find in ‘Warning Shot’. A good example is the part of the film where a raging and swirling river suddenly turns into little more than a rippling stream when one of the villains gets into the water.

But what is particularly striking about ‘Warning Shot’ is that the film regularly swings between qualitative extremes. Cinematographically, for example, it is a good, at times even excellent print. Sufficient artistically interesting camera angles are reviewed. The action sequences, on the other hand, are often filmed mediocre and uninspired, especially because the inexperienced director Dustin Fairbanks too often falls back on the well-known principle of jerky camera images.

Also in terms of acting ‘Warning Shot’ is a mixed bag. Tammy Blanchard, for example, does not convince as the alleged power woman Audrey and uses an exaggerated emotional tone just too often. Consummate Hollywood veterans Bruce Dern and James Earl Jones, on the other hand, are their rock-solid selves, but their roles are too modest to really take the film to the next level. The most psychologically interesting character is the villain Rainy, played by Guillermo Díaz. At first glance, this rough-and-tumble gentleman seems mostly a two-dimensional peasant, but as the film progresses Rainy develops into a charismatic and intelligent psychopath with a keen insight into the human psyche. The way Díaz portrays the character is typical of the film as a whole: at times convincing and terrifying, but at times also contrived, mannered and exaggerated.

Although ‘Warning Shot’ certainly contains some nice moments, it is generally a fairly simplistic and erratic crime and action thriller, topped with a dramatic sauce. Not a terrible film, but because of the messy-looking script and the lack of surprises, it’s also anything but recommended.