The Standoff at Sparrow Creek (2019)
Directed by Henry Dunham
After a mass shooting at a police funeral, reclusive ex-cop Gannon finds himself unwittingly forced out of retirement when he realizes that the killer belongs to the same militia he joined after quitting the force.
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4 films that influenced The Standoff at Sparrow Creek
What critics say influenced The Standoff at Sparrow Creek
Since the story is set largely in a single warehouse, and its cast fires off more lines of dialogue than bullets, an obvious point of comparison is Quentin Tarantino 's Reservoir Dogs .
For better or worse, and in this case worse, debut director Henry Dunham proudly dons his black and white “Reservoir Dogs” suit while bringing “The Standoff At Sparrow Creek” to life.
Drawing obvious inspiration from Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, it’s a thematically ambitious debut for director Henry Dunham, whose story follows an ex-cop (James Badge Dale) who sequesters fellow right-wing militia members in a warehouse following a mass shooting at a police funeral.
I’m overselling it wildly, but The Standoff at Sparrow Creek feels like what might happen if David Fincher shot a variation on Reservoir Dogs written by Rod Serling.
Even without the strength of its character-actor cast, the warehouse-set drama would attract Reservoir Dogs comparisons; though neither as twisty nor as satisfying as that film, this debut shows pulpy promise and is a step ahead of its genre peers.
A (near) single location thriller constructed out of hard men monologuing at one another, Dunham's debut is a taut, tight work of pulp fiction that's practically predestined to draw comparisons to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.
Probably the best aspect of The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is one that works for most films from this particular distributor (for those unaware, RLJE Films is responsible for releasing Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cellblock 99 and Mandy) is that it explores sensitive subject material (here we have a mass shooting serving as the central event springing the plot into motion, handled respectfully) and embraces familiar genre trappings without resorting to a level of grandiose violence that undermines everything these characters have to say.
Enlisting current king of outlaw storytelling S. Craig Zahler - whose movies contain "questionable" politics at best - was a hell of a start, resulting in modern outsider classics Bone Tomahawk and Brawl In Cell Block 99 .
Resist the temptation to compare The Standoff at Sparrow Creek to Reservoir Dogs, or even The Hateful Eight—one-room movies populated by characters severely lacking trust in one another.
Patrick Fischler ( Mullholland Drive , Mad Men ) is perfect as the somewhat-squirelly tech guru who jury-rigs an advanced warning system designed to give them a heads up if the cops are coming; Gene Jones ( No Country for Old Men , The Hateful Eight ) nails a slow-to-anger, somewhat-crazy man on the run; Happy Anderson ( Bright ) embodies the big, brash man whose heft hides a weakness of spirit; and Robert Aramayo ( Nocturnal Animals , Game of Thrones ) is chilling as a silent would-be school shooter.
Patrick Fischler ( Mullholland Drive , Mad Men ) is perfect as the somewhat-squirelly tech guru who jury-rigs an advanced warning system designed to give them a heads up if the cops are coming; Gene Jones ( No Country for Old Men , The Hateful Eight ) nails a slow-to-anger, somewhat-crazy man on the run; Happy Anderson ( Bright ) embodies the big, brash man whose heft hides a weakness of spirit; and Robert Aramayo ( Nocturnal Animals , Game of Thrones ) is chilling as a silent would-be school shooter.