Movie Review ~ Red Right Hand

When it comes to Andie MacDowell, you barely have to mention her name, and you’ve got me on the hook. This is strange because there was a time when I took a much different stand on the actress. However, just as the tide turned for me on Laura Dern and Patricia Arquette, so has my mood shifted on the star of ’90s delights Green Card and Four Weddings and a Funeral. When I heard she was playing the heavy in this new Orlando Bloom crime drama and her character’s name was Big Cat, I almost couldn’t believe my good fortune. MacDowell has toyed with the dark side before, like 2019’s Ready or Not, but here she would be the big-time baddie, and this I had to see.

Directed by brothers Ian and Eshom Nelms, Red Right Hand isn’t the first brutal film concerning dirty dealings in the hills of Appalachia, but Jonathan Easley’s screenplay tries to carve out its own niche all the same. The result is a mixed bag that falls short of the expectations it lays out, resulting in a lackluster addition to the gritty crime canon. While it tries to establish an invigorating narrative arc for its characters bolstered by a promising premise of redemption, a commonality in the tension and intrigue eventually overtakes whatever grip the film has on us.

Former small-time criminal Cash (Bloom, Needle in a Timestack) has kept his nose clean for years, having long since left a life of violence working for local crime lord Big Cat (MacDowell, My Happy Ending). Now living with his brother Finney (Scott Haze, The Seeding) and niece Savannah (Chapel Oaks, Pain Hustlers), Cash stays out of trouble, though a flame-licked hand bears a lasting reminder of the sacrifice he made to leave Big Cat’s gang. If only his brother had been able to follow a similar path. Racking up debts he can’t pay puts him in mortal danger, which can only be dodged by Cash taking on three jobs for Big Cat, each with its bloody consequences.

With bodies piling up, an isolated community that has survived on secrets begins to bury more untold stories. Undeterred by the spotlight on her, Big Cat uses the opportunity to remind Cash what he is and the carnage he has left in his wake over time. Through this reexamination of his past, Cash needs to consider another betrayal for his family to survive. This deceit will determine the fates of multiple people living in the rugged hills.

While the Nelms brothers (who directed the nicely bonkers Fatman in 2020, starring Mel Gibson as a mean ‘ole Santa Claus) deliver a sense of atmosphere and several swell tense moments, Red Right Hand devolves into the tropes and cliches often associated with this genre. Loyalty, revenge, and lack of true north in one’s moral compass are familiar themes the screenplay has outlined, but nothing we see onscreen adds substantially to what has come before. The pacing can be uneven, and long stretches of speechifying slow the momentum, often as it finds its stride. So, while it fails to distinguish itself in any significant way, the movie settles for being an entertaining but dry watch. Admittedly, there can be comfort in retreading well-worn territory, but it becomes frustrating when you have a cast this good wasted on a formulaic plot.

That same derivative feeling also spills over to the characters, with Bloom struggling to find the right way to pitch his troubled convict and MacDowell not faring much better in a role that lacks the raw meatiness all good villains are sliced from. Cash is conflicted by his return to working with Big Cat but falls in quickly with his old ways. When it does come time to make a stand, in a critical moment when intervening would mean saving a life, he balks. Bloom never sold me on the turmoil any of these actions caused. Striving for cruelty but achieving little more than stern, MacDowell sure looks the part under scads of black eyeliner, but the outward appearance doesn’t create a mean streak that never fully emerges. It’s almost a compliment to her that playing this type of blood-hungry villain isn’t in her wheelhouse.

However, dedicated fans of hard-nosed crime dramas may still enjoy Red Right Hand. Besides its stylish direction and the location’s authenticity (credit cinematographer Johnny Derango for the pleasing visuals), it features two legitimate stars. They’re backed up by an ensemble cast of familiar faces such as Garret Dillahunt (Where the Crawdads Sing) and Brian Geraghty (Flight), not to mention Mo McRae’s (Lee Daniels’ The Butler) impressive turn as a cop who dares to take on Big Cat. Discerning viewers will be left wishing it was a bolder take that elevated the standard material to a higher level.