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Powerful

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Very entertaining movie. Good story, good action, good actors. The directing my be the weak link in this movie. That said it was worth watching. Good guys vs bad guys in Louisiana. Tom Berenger did a nice job. Not an Acadeny Award winning movie, but still worth watching and good entertainment.

I am not embarrassed to say that I basically like this movie. True, it is not conceptional, the number of twists is limited, there are clichés, etc., but its general atmosphere as well as performances are far above average. Willem Dafoe as Bud Carter and Matt Dillon as Jesse Weiland were the central characters and spent most time on screen, but their "supporters" were good as well, although the female character was not so elaborated and her presence provided limited value to the movie. Nevertheless, not all scenes were predictable and the ending was atypical to related US movies in general. Plus an interesting trip back to Lousiana in 1980ies, its landscape and people, infrastructure and fashion back then... Some modern people tend to forget how the world was without shiny cars and digital technology.In fact, Bad Country was close to obtain 8 points from me, but still 7 - due to limited versatility and perfunctory female link.

I give it 3 stars, because the acting was decent indeed! But, to be fair, the movie is utter mince. I never even watched it to the end, in fact I turned it off at about 50mins mark or so: It was over! Anyway, some brief reasons:Lame dialogue, really B.S : Standard, and superficial. Actually, what I would say is that, it felt as though the acting and the dialogue did not mirror each other. Does that make sense? I haven't really experienced that before, in such a strong way, but the acting was pretty decent, at moments, but the dialogue was poor ! Story line. COME ON ! I did not like it. Beating on the Nazi and the Southern Gentleman once again eh! Typical for Jesuit Zionist controlled Hollywood ! To the producers - "TAKE A RUN AND JUMP!" I'm not making this political, please don't read that, i'm just pointing out these stereotypes: how many times in these "gangster" films is there the tattooed tough guy Nazi? - And then the actual writing makes him team up with the Law and not only that, the black chief, who he somehow knew his name, and that's so touching! Rubbish. Propaganda. I do not like story lines that are overtly spreading an ideological line. Fair enough, we cannot escape this at times. BUT, I have had enough of this sort of tripe! Direction: there was the scene where we find the exchange of the guns and the money; and oh yes, such sparkling dialogue! WOW. They really thought this one through eh? I guess Southerners are just maybe a little retarded? Contrast this with the movie HEAT. Yes. No comparison. Anyway, the direction was extremely amateur, and it felt more like a production made for TV, as opposed to Film. This scene for me, stands out like a sore thumb. Very jarring. It was at this point that the film had really set out its stall. Sorry, no sale! Willam Defoe and Matt Dillon and Tom, were all pretty good actors ! BUT and sorry for bashing at this point, the dialogue and particularly the plot and story, did not match up with the acting.

Make no bones about it, if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had an award for Best Picture a la straight to DVD, Bad Country would surely take the prize. Matt Dillon, who seems to love appearing in movies that hardly anyone bothers to see, gives a revealing and rather appealing performance as "Country's" revenge-minded lead role. With this turn, a stint in 2004's Employee of the Month, and the part of Patton Dubois in 2006's Nothing But the Truth, Dillon is for a better word, the Redbox king. To each his own I guess (for the record, I've got no problem paying $1.20 to rent a DVD at a Redbox kiosk, that's for sure).With a working title labeled Whiskey Bay (I almost like that one better) and a promising director who died way too soon (the taskful Chris Brinker), Bad Country goes back to the early 80's with contract killer Jesse Weiland (Dillon) getting caught by an intense police detective named Bud Carter (the forever cool Willem Dafoe). Weiland gets busted on a handful of serious charges. He's looking at life in prison unless he can become an informant by giving up every name on a list of people he works with (other contract killers who inhabit a nasty, dutiful crime ring). Now Weiland is about as laid-back as anyone. He doesn't give a hoot about his well being. But he's got a wife/newborn on the outside and is willing to cooperate in order to avoid going to the perennial slammer.Bad Country harks back to stuff like 1991's Rush, 1982's 48 Hrs, and even Matt Dillon's own earlier work, the critically acclaimed Drugstore Cowboy. Call it a narc flick, a broken down character study, a stylistic mob farce, and mustache abundant (almost every character seems to channel the facial hair of actor Sam Elliott for unabashed inspiration). What you don't want to call "Country" is something that lacks for trying. This thing wants to detour you from knowing that it probably got rejected from numerous theater screenings. Could the generic title be the culprit? I can't be sure. Does it matter at this point? Not really. The original release date was months ago so it's obvious that too much time has passed.Nevertheless, we get the pleasure of seeing a formed dynamic and an unlikely partnership between the characters played by Dafoe and Dillon. It's hard to believe it but they have never been on screen together before the release of "Country". Here they've got great chemistry as opposites who are at large, the same. Watching them trade dialogue in various scenes made me think that they've been working side by side for years. Throw in Tom Berenger (where's he been) as ruthless crime boss Lutin and you've got a cast that makes this thing rise above the ordinary. Yeah, Bad Country does at certain intervals, feel like a full-on rental with carbon copy shootouts and accents used by its actors that don't sound like anybody who lives in Louisiana (the flick's setting and on-site location). But for most of the time, there is plenty of crackling dialogue, a sense of urgency, and smooth, conventional storytelling tactics that make you think otherwise.In retrospect, "Country's" ending and its opening twenty minutes resonate with a lot of police protocol. You know, where if a felon (of any kind) is caught, they have a chance to make a deal, give up a name, and rat out someone higher up on the criminalised food chain. If you've seen anything law and order related, this is a premise that's as old as dirt. Thankfully, this little seen crime drama supplies enough energy, surmised wit, and tough guy machismo to garner my recommendation regardless of all its familiarity. Bottom line: Bad Country ain't so "bad".Of note: Bad Country's setting is in 1983. You wouldn't know it though because its sense of time and place is sort of lacking in detail. Case in point: I didn't really figure out that the film wasn't in present day mode until a handful of scenes involved characters talking on payphones. Anyway, this insight is merely an oversight and shouldn't keep you from enjoying what's on screen.