A Single Shot (2013)

A superb film upon which our grasp of perception and reality has been exquisitely en-captured in a heart wrenchingly yet sober filled drama.

We are involved from the very start in the life of a blue collar worker who has a dark, yet ambiguous human option. The darker of this option he takes unfortunately. The final part of the film has some memento style cleaning of his history (without the time travel) whilst progressing successfully a personal and thrilling characterisation of our lead character.

I found this film a tribute and somewhat "ordinary" Sam Rockwell film. "Ordinary" in this review is built upon other films he has acted in and which can be construed as "OUTSTANDING". Great film, watch it.

Fmovies: Many reviewers are complaining about this movie being "slow" because of the plot. What makes this movie slow is the pacing and uneven structure. The plot itself fine and actually pretty interesting - a hunter accidentally kills someone in the woods and decides not to tell anyone about it. He finds a stash of money with the body and uses it to better his Son. That's a good story. Unfortunately, it's the poor direction, editing and writing of this movie that really destroy what is a pretty good premise.

Honestly (the more I think about it), with the exception of an interesting story (at least at the beginning) and a great performance by Rockwell, this film is a complete mess. There are numerous scenes that don't fit or just don't make sense. Though Rockwell is fantastic, many of his character's actions are completely idiotic. I blame a poor script filled with convenient characters that serve as nothing more than stereotypical plot devises. Neo-noir films can break rules and be implausible, but that's because they usually have a pacing that builds to a great climax, making you forgot about all the plot holes and illogical characters.

Rockwell's character is the only person in the movie with any depth. Which is a testament to Rockwell, because the writer does not do anything to help us relate to this guy. I guess, to a degree, that might be the point - this unlucky chap could be any of us. But at a certain point I wanted more focus on the psychological weight of his murder, a Tell Tale Heart kind of thing, and less No Country For Old Men 2.

I didn't hate this movie. It does create a nice atmosphere, but there's too much wrong with it to really enjoy it for more than 10 minutes at a time at any point. Thank goodness for Rockwell, or it would have been completely unwatchable.

Check out Cold In July or Blue Ruin - those films show you how to do neo-noir thrillers right.

Although A Single Shot has a familiar moody premise, its mature execution makes it worth watching. Matthew F. Jones adapted the screenplay from his own novel and it does quite show that there's something novelistic about its structure. Our protagonist spends most of his time weaving between encounters with characters he knows well about business we see the half of. Jones has himself a rich world and we're only seeing a peek at it. It does mean that he gets wrapped up in a little too much and it feels like the first two thirds of the film feel slow and unfocused. But it's all worth it for the third act. Now, that part is new to me. Absolutely nail- biting climax, heart-breaking buildup and a great ambiguous ending. Shame they saved all the punches for the that last half an hour rather than the first ninety. Unfortunately, as characters mumble and grumble so much, I could only catch about a quarter of what people were saying until I needed subtitles and that severely affected my emotional investment and my knowledge of what was going on. I could figure out the broad strokes though. The performances all round were good, Jeffrey Wright is a tragic standout. Sam Rockwell dissolves into his role which is a good thing and a bad thing since I love it when he turns his charm on. Good solid thriller.

7/10

A Single Shot fmovies. John Moon (Sam Rockwell) is a poacher living in poverty ridden backwoods. His father lost their family farm to the bank. His wife (Kelly Reilly) left him taking their child with her. He is struggling to accept this. One day on a hunt, he runs across a dead girl, an overturned truck, and a box full of money. He takes the money, and abandons the body. Somebody comes looking for the money and knows John took it. It becomes psychological combat as the mysterious person try to force John to divulge where the money is.

The gritty grim of overwhelming poverty is well done. Everybody looks like they just did meth. However there are too many scenes of nothing happening as John Moon walks around hunting. It adds nothing that isn't already there. They are better off trimming those scenes to lessen the 2 hours running time and pick up the pace.

Went into this movie expecting some sort of cat and mouse game or a "Vacancy" like thriller about persons being taken down one after another, but as pleasantly surprised to find its neither, Instead its feels like an backwoods thriller evoking a particular emotional or aesthetic quality through a combination of acting, visuals and realism shots . It feels as if one is there to experience the story as it happened to u personally of someone who had committed a crime covered it up and the mental trauma of going through blackmail only to realise that those around u cant be trusted. i would have to agree for most part i was engrossed guessing about whats happening on screen for most of the time. Of course there is ample drama revolving around relationships and characters caught up in their own world. pretty much half the show revolves around this and the main central character keeping his cool around a sticky situation he is caught up in

An atmospheric thriller that grips you in parts from the opening scene together with the bleak finale

The result will please some, others not, keeping their reservations about the movie . Tells a strange story of mystery and horror, which plays-mostly-in the majestic surroundings of a rural countryside during a dark winter or near spring season . Most of the film has dark or muted color tones of the backwoods and rural landscape

With some good visuals aesthetics and successful direction of actors, the movie creates from a tense opening of a woman being killed and into thriller that evolves into a mostly psychological movie. A movie mystery where the silences, inactivity of most part of the show and the images reflect the intuitions, intentions and sensations of persons through scenes depicting from a troubled guilty character huddled in the corner of the house's lone bathroom , the sole light of a single lamp or inviting illumination from the winter sun through the tree tops tells a story to the viewer

The film also seems to accurately depict what happens in mostly backwoods or rural countryside town where a few shady characters co exist with normal everyday people. Most of the movie revolves around this premise and examining the morality of both sets of characters

The show starts off a bleak and sorrowful scene t though halfway it seems to lose track to a family drama and a witch hunt only to regain back at the final minutes

Overall worth a watch, one of the movies u would like to see on a week off day or vacation.

I had never heard of this movie, but I found it on On Demand for purchase before the actual release date. I wasn't expecting much as I had never heard of it - but this movie was so good - it was almost hard to watch. I found myself getting up and having to walk out of the room because at times it was almost too painful (in a good way). Every actor was amazing from the accents, to demeanor, and wardrobe. I felt like the movie was actually happening before my eyes.

Sam Rockwell has always been a great actor - but in this movie - I kept forgetting it was even him. This was a great role for him and I hope to see more of him in future movies.

I recommend this dark, creepy and suspenseful movie. Be prepared to squirm!