Plot
When a local boy goes missing, sanitation worker Donald Devlin (Andrew Scott) becomes concerned about the child and his grieving mother. Upon the discovery of the boy's body in the town's creek, Donald does not believe that the child drowned and begins investigating on his own, sensing that someone might have hurt the boy. While dealing with his mother's deteriorating health and a tense but good relationship with his daughter, as well as growing anxiety, Donald draws the unwarranted attention of the local corrupt sheriff (portrayed by Michael Ross) who threatens Donald with legal trouble and mocks his mental health problems.
After receiving ambiguous and evasive answers from an old classmate working for police (Griff Furst), Donald is lured to a remote overpass where two masked men ambush him. One of the assailants points a gun at Donald and urges him to jump from the bridge. A panicked Donald is saved by his co-worker and friend Donna Reutzel (Bronagh Waugh) who confronts the men with a revolver chasing them away with gunfire. As Donald continues investigating, he finds out that Dr. Joel Pomorski (portrayed by Andrew Massett), has been involved in child sexual abuse and was a frequent visitor to the boy's house in the days leading up to his disappearance and death.
Increasingly upset at the thought of Pomorski hurting the boy, Donald becomes more anxious and erratic, leading to verbal warnings from co-workers and a beating by Sheriff Mooney who threatens with killing him if he does not quit the pursuit of clairfying the kid's death. Dealing with nostalgia and social alienation, Donald visits his teenage daughter one last time, fetching a bow and arrow from his daughter's home, decided to take justice on his hands.
The final scene shows an emotionless Donald waiting for Dr. Pomorski to arrive to his home from work. When Pomorski realizes Donald's intentions, he attempts to escape by running towards the open fields of his country residence. Donald calmly walks behind Pomorski and aims in the man's direction, striking and killing Pomorski with an arrow.
A peaceful Donald sits on the fence next to Pomorksi's body and waits for police to arrive. When they get to the country home, Donald drops the bow and arrow and rises his hands, as Sheriff Mooney looks on with visible concern that Donald found out the truth. The movie ends with officers carefully approaching Donald to arrest him, as Sheriff Mooney looks from one side to another with a breathless expression.
Reception
The film has 62% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. [2]
Odie Henderson of RogerEbert.com awarded the film two and a half stars. [3] Ben Travis of Empire awarded the film three stars out of five. [1] Stephen Carty of Radio Times also awarded the film three stars out of five. [4]
Dennis Harvey of Variety gave the film a positive review and wrote, "The result is diverting enough, yet ends up more a mildly offbeat time-filler than something memorable." [5] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Scott's strong, startling performance is the most effective element of Simon Fellows' offbeat crime thriller." [6]
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