Blood and Money
Tom Berenger wandering the wilderness on his lonesome before quickly becoming wrapped up in a mini war with some low-class criminals due to an accidental murder is about as tiresome an idea as the main character himself.
Blood and Money, on paper, could sound like the latest Liam Neeson action vehicle, as our star must combat against both man and nature in order to achieve survival along with some minor resolution to an inner conflict. On that front, the film almost manages to provide a solid enough venture through the blizzards of Northern Maine to scratch that classic action/thriller itch yet, even with a short runtime, the limited scope of the premise becomes increasingly clear.
Berenger plays Jim Reed, a retired veteran living alone in a desolate small town where everyone seems to know one another; he spends his days hunting while struggling to battle an alcoholism that seemingly is the root cause of his loneliness. On a hunting trip, Jim ends up accidentally fatally wounding a woman, who he later finds dead with a duffle bag full of money. Deciding to take the money, Jim finds himself up against the victim's friends who were at the helm of a casino robbery, thus resulting in a man hunt for Jim along with the money.
Despite both Writer/Director John Barr’s best efforts to provide Jim with a substantial amount of depth to enable a viewer to truly back his survival, there is something off key with Jim as a character along with Berenger’s performance on the whole. Even with the aforementioned back story that is quite often delivered through some not so subtle exposition, Reed comes across as often being quite one note in his story which, in a film that relies on very little amounts of dialogue, becomes a problem very fast.
Perhaps the most distracting elements of Blood and Money come from its comedic moments which, sadly, are very much not intentional. Berenger certainly tries his upmost to put in a solid performance, successfully carrying the hard vet persona for the majority of the film, yet certain line deliveries in what are supposed to be scenes rampant with tension come across as highly off kilter with the tone. Along with this, the film has some incredibly strange sound effect choices; crashes and hits sounding like something found in a Saturday morning cartoon do their upmost to drain any tension left in the films more action oriented final act.
Despite some pleasant snowy vistas displayed through the cinematography, also helmed by John Barr, Blood and Money is about as generic as its own title is, offering very little in the way of tension or a thrilling enough narrative to make even its short runtime justifiable.
