Arizona (2018 film)

Last updated
Arizona
Arizona (2018 film).png
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJonathan Watson
Written byLuke Del Tredici
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDrew Daniels
Edited byJeff Seibenick
Music by Joseph Stephens
Production
companies
Distributed by RLJE Films
Release dates
  • January 20, 2018 (2018-01-20)(Sundance)
  • August 24, 2018 (2018-08-24)(United States)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Arizona is a 2018 American dark comedy thriller film directed by Jonathan Watson and written by Luke Del Tredici. The film stars Danny McBride, Rosemarie DeWitt, Luke Wilson, Elizabeth Gillies, Kaitlin Olson, David Alan Grier, and Lolli Sorenson. [1] It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2018, and was released in theaters and through video on demand on August 24, 2018, by RLJE Films. [2] [3]

Contents

Plot

In 2009, in the midst of the real estate housing crisis, divorced realtor Cassie Fowler resides in Harding, Arizona, with her 14-year-old daughter Morgan.

Cassie is ridiculed one morning by Gary, her aggressive boss. While Cassie is on the phone with a debt collector regarding the potential foreclosure of her own home, a client named Sonny enters the office, enraged at Gary because the house he has sold is losing value. The argument turns physical and culminates with Gary being pushed over a ledge to his death. Sonny then notices Cassie, tries to convince her not to call the authorities, then knocks her unconscious and takes her to his house.

Sonny tells her he will let her go if she promises not to tell. When Sonny decides Cassie is lying, he ties her up just as his ex-wife Vikki enters the house. An argument ensues between Sonny and Vikki, ending with Sonny striking her in the head with a golf club.

Sonny has both women tied up. After a verbal argument where Vikki highlights how much of a loser he is, Sonny bashes Vikki in the face with a granite block, killing her. Cassie tries to calm him, but when he becomes suspicious that she is lying to him over simple facts, he decides to torment her by kidnapping Morgan.

Sonny arrives at Cassie's house and tells Morgan that Cassie has been in a car accident. Suspicious, Morgan attempts to make a phone call, and Sonny forces his way in. Able to hide in the house, Morgan calls 911, but Sonny has picked up on another line and tricks her into believing he is the operator and revealing her location in the house.

Cassie has untied herself and runs to the guard shack at the entrance to the housing development. The guard is reluctant to provide assistance but lends her his cell phone. Cassie calls Scott, her ex-husband, to come and help her save Morgan. She tells him the name of the housing development, but hangs up to talk with Sheriff Coburn, who has arrived. Cassie takes him back to the house and Coburn forces his way in. Coburn is sprayed in the face with pepper spray and fatally shoots the unseen attacker, revealed to be an elderly woman and the wrong house. Sonny arrives and shoots Coburn dead. He takes Cassie at gunpoint, revealing he watched them drive by and that he lives only a few houses over. Sonny forces Cassie and Morgan to bury Vikki, but Cassie manages to hit him with a shovel, allowing time to escape.

They find the keys to the elderly woman's vehicle. As they drive towards the gate, Sonny appears in the guard's uniform, his fourth kill of the day. Sonny shoots out the vehicle's tire, causing them to crash. Cassie and Morgan flee to the first house they find with lights on, but it is an abandoned house being used to grow marijuana.

Scott and his girlfriend Kelsey arrive at the guard shack and Sonny convinces them that he is the security guard. Sonny leads them through the neighborhood and tells Scott to shout for Cassie and Morgan. Still in the house, they hear Scott and Cassie runs out. Seeing Sonny, she shouts at Scott to run over the guard, but Sonny shoots Scott dead. Kelsey manages to back the car away, but crashes into and knocks down a light pole that knocks out the electricity to the marijuana house and ignites a brush fire. While trying to retrieve a gun from the trunk to kill Sonny, the fire reaches the car and she is killed in the ensuing explosion.

Sonny chases Cassie and Morgan back into the blacked-out house. Sonny finds them and – just as he is about to shoot Cassie – Morgan shines a flashlight in his face, allowing Cassie to stab him with a pair of gardening shears. Sonny pursues them and catches Cassie at the door of the unfinished basement. After a short struggle, Cassie pushes him in, and Sonny dies from the fall. Cassie and Morgan walk out of the development, shown burning as the various fires spread.

Cast

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 43% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. [4] At Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam McCall</span> Fictional character from General Hospital

Sam McCall is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Created by Charles Pratt, Jr. and Robert Guza, Jr., the character made her debut on the episode airing on October 1, 2003, portrayed by Kelly Monaco. Sam is the daughter of mob boss Julian Jerome and attorney Alexis Davis, born and placed for adoption when both were teenagers. She arrived in town as a con artist trying to reverse her family's bad luck by destroying the five lucky cards of the "Dead Man's Hand." Upon her arrival, she was characterized as a "sexy bad girl, with a nose for intrigue." Since her introduction, the character has matured into a self-assured and confident woman, while still retaining traces of her adventuresome, bad girl ways.

<i>The Maddening</i> 1995 film by Danny Huston

The Maddening is a 1995 psychological thriller film directed by Danny Huston.

<i>Vivacious Lady</i> 1938 film by George Stevens

Vivacious Lady is a 1938 American black-and-white romantic comedy film directed by George Stevens and starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The screenplay was written by P.J. Wolfson and Ernest Pagano and adapted from a short story by I. A. R. Wylie. The music score was by Roy Webb and the cinematography by Robert De Grasse.

<i>Ride Lonesome</i> 1959 film by Budd Boetticher

Ride Lonesome is a 1959 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, and James Coburn in his film debut. This Eastmancolor film is one of Boetticher's so-called "Ranown cycle" of westerns, made with Randolph Scott, executive producer Harry Joe Brown and screenwriter Burt Kennedy, beginning with Seven Men from Now.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Corinthos</span> Fictional character

Sonny Corinthos is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. Maurice Benard has played the role of the manic depressive mob kingpin, living in Port Charles, since the character's storyline originated on August 13, 1993. Sonny is also known for supercouple pairings with Brenda Barrett and Carly Benson. Since joining the show, he has become a central character, with many storylines focusing on his family, friends, and criminal enterprise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Valentine</span> UK soap opera character, created 2006

Sonny Valentine is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Aaron Fontaine. The role was initially played by Devon Anderson until 2007 when producer Bryan Kirkwood fired Anderson. In 2014, the role was recast when Kirkwood decided to reintroduce the character. On 12 November 2014, Sonny was killed off in a train explosion along with Carmel McQueen, when Carmel rescued her cousin Theresa McQueen from Sonny.

<i>Xanadu</i> (musical) American musical comedy

Xanadu is a musical comedy with a book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, based on the 1980 film of the same name, which was, in turn, inspired by the 1947 Rita Hayworth film Down to Earth. The title refers to Xanadu, the site of the Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan's summer palace.

<i>Undertow</i> (1949 film) 1949 thriller film directed by William Castle

Undertow is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by William Castle and starring Scott Brady, John Russell, Dorothy Hart and Peggy Dow. It is the story of an ex-con, a former Chicago mobster, who is accused of the murder of a high-ranking Chicago boss. The movie marks the second film to feature a young Rock Hudson and the first in which he received a film credit for his work.

The Factory is a 2012 American crime thriller film directed by Morgan O'Neill and starring John Cusack, Mae Whitman, Dallas Roberts, Mageina Tovah, Cindy Sampson, and Jennifer Carpenter. In the film, Cusack plays a Buffalo, New York cop who has been chasing a serial kidnapper who abducts young women.

<i>It Can Be Done Amigo</i> 1972 film

It Can Be Done Amigo is a 1972 Spanish / Italian / French film directed by Maurizio Lucidi.

<i>The Last Hard Men</i> (film) 1976 film by Andrew V. McLaglen

The Last Hard Men is a 1976 American Western film directed by Andrew McLaglen, based on the 1971 novel Gundown by Brian Garfield. It stars Charlton Heston and James Coburn, with supporting roles by Barbara Hershey, Jorge Rivero, Michael Parks, and Larry Wilcox in his screen debut.

<i>The Public Menace</i> 1935 film by Erle C. Kenton

The Public Menace is a 1935 American black-and-white romantic drama film starring Jean Arthur, George Murphy and Douglass Dumbrille. A newspaper reporter keeps losing and regaining his job due to a manicurist he is persuaded to marry.

<i>Puppet Master X: Axis Rising</i> 2012 American horror film

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising is a 2012 American action horror film and is the tenth entry in the Puppet Master film series. Produced and directed by Charles Band, it is a direct sequel to 2010's Puppet Master: Axis of Evil and introduces new puppets named Blitzkrieg, Bombshell, Kamikaze, and Weremacht, who fight alongside the Nazis. Puppet Master X: Axis Rising was released on October 9, 2012 by Full Moon Features.

<i>Homefront</i> (2013 film) 2013 film by Gary Fleder

Homefront is a 2013 American action thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and written by Sylvester Stallone, who also produced the film with Kevin King Templeton and John Thompson. The film was released nationwide in theaters on November 27, 2013. The film is based on the 2005 novel Homefront by Chuck Logan. The film stars Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, and Kate Bosworth. Filming began on October 1, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

<i>Rio Grande Patrol</i> 1950 film by Lesley Selander

Rio Grande Patrol is a 1950 Western film directed by Lesley Selander and starring Tim Holt and Tom Tyler.

JSS (<i>The Walking Dead</i>) 2nd episode of the 6th season of The Walking Dead

"JSS" is the second episode of the sixth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead, which aired on AMC on October 18, 2015. The episode was written by Seth Hoffman and directed by Jennifer Lynch.

Scott Lang (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Scott Lang is a fictional character portrayed by Paul Rudd in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name and known commonly by his alias, Ant-Man. He is depicted as a thief-turned-superhero after being granted access to Hank Pym's technology and training, specifically the use of an advanced suit that allows him to change sizes, as well as communicate with ants. He is recruited by Steve Rogers to join the Avengers.

<i>Death Race: Beyond Anarchy</i> 2018 American film

Death Race: Beyond Anarchy is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Don Michael Paul. It is the fourth and final film in the Death Race remake series and a direct sequel to the 2008 film Death Race. The film was released on DVD and digitally on October 2, 2018.

References

  1. Nicholson, Amy (January 28, 2018). "Sundance Film Review: 'Arizona'". Variety . Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  2. McNary, Dave (May 1, 2018). "Danny McBride's Comedy 'Arizona' Bought for Summer Release". Variety. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  3. Kiefer, Halle (August 13, 2018). "Danny McBride Is Out for Homeowner's Revenge in Housing Crisis Thriller Arizona". Vulture . Archived from the original on August 14, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  4. "Arizona (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on 2018-11-02. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  5. "Arizona Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.