By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Young lovers, a terrorist bomber and a steely-eyed FBI agent-- played by the great James Remar (TV?s ?Black Lightning?)-- all collide in the new indie thriller
?Dead Reckoning? from director Andrzej Bartkowiak (?Prizzi?s Honor,? ?Maximum Impact? and ?The Verdict?).
Tillie Gardner (India Eisley, TV?s ?I Am the Night?) has had a rough way to go. Her parents were killed in a plane crash that may have been deliberately planned. It?s been six months since their deaths and Tillie hasn?t warmed to living with her recovering alcoholic Aunt Jennifer (Ellie Cornell, TV?s ?Femme Fatales?).
Tillie starts to slowly come out of her shell when she meets a cute Nantucket cab driver named Niko (K.J. Apa, ?I Still Believe? and TV?s ?Riverdale?). Just as she?s ready to open up to Niko, she discovers that his brother Marco (Scott Adkins, ?Debt Collectors?) is the ruthless terrorist charged with sabotaging her parent?s plane out of revenge for the death of his father during an FBI sting that Tillie?s father was heading.
That?s a lot to unpack, but it all unfolds in dramatic and thrilling fashion especially when Marco and Niko realize the connection with Tillie and when poor Aunt Jennifer tries to hold her own with Marco.
Apa and Eisley have terrific onscreen chemistry here, but I would love to see them take the lead and do a full-blown romantic drama. Until then, ?Dead Reckoning? is a good warm up and will do just fine.
"DEAD RECKONING? is available on VOD and Digital.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Check Out This Trailer For
"DEAD RECKONING"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
