At least one clever jolt and seamy New Orleans location work add perks to “Dark Meridian,” an almost proudly derivative low-budget crime thriller that Rankin Hickman, the writer and director, appears to have designed as a tryout for a bigger budget. Chases, shootouts and showy camera moves are executed deftly enough, but given the frugal trappings, they play as overambitious — an attempt to make a storage tank of lemonade from one lemon.
Trailer: 'Dark Meridian'
A preview of the film.
By GOOD FLY PRODUCTIONS on Publish Date January 4, 2018. Image courtesy of Internet Video Archive. Watch in Times Video »The story begins when Spencer (James Moses Black), a cop in league with a local gangster, confronts one of the gangster’s sons, Tevi (Dave Davis), outside the warehouse that he’s staking out — minutes before a blood bath inside that leaves only one survivor.
Quentin Tarantino-style flashbacks illuminate what happened. Inside the warehouse, Tevi and his father’s henchmen had been avenging the killing of Tevi’s brother. But Tevi, untrusting of the rival gangsters who delivered the ostensible murderer (Billy Slaughter), wasn’t sure they had the right guy. In the present time frame, Tevi, the smart son who could have avoided a life of crime, and the avuncular Spencer team up track down the wounded man who escaped the scene.
Mr. Hickman clearly knows New Orleans and has branched out beyond obvious locations, making the city a central presence. The acting, on the other hand, might best be described as uneven, and a hollow finale mutes whatever impact the movie might have had as a character study. “Dark Meridian” proves that Mr. Hickman has the capacity to surprise, but it doesn’t prove much more.
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