The Good:
Working in the favor of this methodical crime-drama is certainly the performances. Primarily from Luke Evans in the lead who plays an ex-con trying to rebuild his life and repair his family while also dealing with the continued guilt of having taken another man’s life for petty reasons. Evans doesn’t feel sorry for himself. He’s owned up to his crime and is a changed man. He’s a good person that did something wrong, this character knows it, so you can sympathize with his mission to start over.
5lbs of Pressure also builds a gritty but still immersive neighborhood atmosphere that does work well for the many layers of this movie’s overall storyline. This is without question a familiar slow-burn drama fueled by crime that attempts to examine a handful of threads that will ultimately come to a head. And despite not all of the layers working as effectively as intended there is enough meat on the bones of this movie to appeal to fans of the traditional crime drama themed on the notion of actions and consequences.
The (Not) Good:
Despite the strong lead performance and a solid supporting cast, the main issue with 5lbs of Pressure is that it attempts to do too much. There are too many characters and too many unnecessary moving pieces to this plot progression. You get Evans’ Adam fresh out of jail rebuilding his life, stealthily reconnecting with his son, and trying to repair a broken relationship with his lady. Then there’s essentially an entire other film inside of this movie as Leff, a small-time hood uses his cousin Mike to make drops whose friends with Eli who is in a bad relationship with Lori.
Mike is also the little brother of the man Adam killed more than a decade earlier so you know that will inevitably come to a climax since Adam is conveniently working at a bar in his old neighborhood. So, as you can see, this is a very busy film. There are too many plot wrinkles and not enough of them are fully explored beyond genre cliches with surface level substance at best being the result. This film is built on borrowed tropes and for as predictable as it is, the pacing is too slow. The middle of this movie drags on, and, in the end, it feels far longer than it actually is.
Final Verdict:
Regardless of the flaws, 5lbs of Pressure does have its positives and those aspects do make it worth a watch. Evans brings plenty of sincerity to this character to make it feel lived in and a few spots of this screenplay do feel unique. I also appreciated the direction Allocco showcases in the closing minutes of this film. The ending of this movie is extremely well done, and it makes you wish the film that led up to it was a bit tighter, with more of a focus on just a few of the characters.
Grade: C-
CAST: Luke Evans, Rory Culkin, Alex Pettyfer, Rudy Pankow, Charlie Rawes, Zac Adams, Stephanie Leonidas, Savannah Steyn DIRECTOR: Phil Allocco WRITER: Phil Allocco DISTRIBUTOR: Lionsgate RUNNING TIME: 111 minutes RATING: R (For drug use, violence, language, and some sexual material) YEAR: 2024 LANGUAGE: English GENRE: Crime/Thriller/Drama
Anthony J. Digioia II © 2024 SilverScreen Analysis & Movies Never Say Die
