American Muscle (2014)

John Falcon did 10 years of hard time in prison. Now he's got 24 hours to get revenge on every person who had a hand in sending him there.

Director:

Ravi Dhar

Writer:

John Fallon

Stars:

Nick Principe, Robin Sydney, Todd Farmer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nick Principe	...	John Falcon
Robin Sydney	...	Darling
Todd Farmer	...	Sam Falcon
John Fallon	...	Tongues
Alice McMunn	...	Sassy Fanny (as Malice McMunn)
Trent Haaga	...	Styles
Philip Salick	...	Beefhead
Laban Pheidias	...	The Hollywood Director
Joshua Lou Friedman	...	Sinko
George P. Wilbur	...	Prison Clerk
Robert Coffie	...	Coughing Johnny
Jennifer Wenger	...	Tura the Bartender
Damion Poitier	...	Tyrese
Laura Raczka	...	Sinko's Girl
Summer Perry	...	Sara

Storyline

John Falcon did 10 years of hard time in prison. Now he's got 24 hours to get revenge on every person who had a hand in sending him there.

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Plot Keywords:

homage | revenge | hate | rage | lust | 

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Taglines:

You Owe. You Pay.

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Genres:

Action

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the anti-hero John Falcon (Nick Principe) was not a play on the writer's name John Fallon. The name was chosen by the producers before Fallon was hired to write the screenplay.

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Soundtracks

Once I Had A Friend
Written by Joseph Schedlo (BMI)
Performed by Schedlo

User Reviews

Bad even for a Mantasy.

Start with a hero who is big and strong, covered with tattoos and vicious looking, who kills without remorse and has a true cause: To save his wife from the clutches of his evil brother who betrayed him 10 years ago. Add in the trashy hot chicks and the resulting heedless adultery, the drugs and alcohol, the rampant killing of bad guys and a few mostly innocent folks as well, bikers (never forget the bikers), drug money and lots of guns..

And ta da, you have yourself a Mantasy. A compilation of all the animalistic, pointless behaviors associated with big, strong, dangerous looking men as they rage through the neighborhood being.. well, stereotypically manly. The idea is that men don't think. They react on instinct. Revenge, hate, rage, lust and delusion. It could be fun, but this time it wasn't.

In order to make this style of film really work, the hero (as it is entirely hero-centric) needs to be someone that the viewer can empathize with. If there is no empathy, there is no entertainment.

This hero is set up as a showpiece more than a character. I think the writers and director wanted to believe that he was the perfect manly character: with the perfect manly name, the right sized muscles, the tough looking exterior and tattoos, and doing all the right manly things like winning the fights, killing the bad guys, boppin all the ladies, fighting for justice, etc. But unfortunately all those shiny archetypes of the manly hero are tarnished when we add in all the little blemishes to his heroic luster: He cheats on his wife, he kills even mostly innocent people without remorse, he is clearly delusional on some level and irritatingly fatalistic, etc, etc. And we have a hero that you just don't feel inclined to love.

All in all, the film was simply just unsatisfying. The acting was not great, the plot development was handled as well as it could be for a plot that really makes little sense, and the camera work was only shaky when it really counted. It just didn't entertain, but instead skirted along in shallow waters, so to speak. It never achieved convincing depth, which is a shame because it tried too hard.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

American Muscle

Company Credits

Production Co:

Snowfort Pictures, Automatic Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1