Mob Land
Directed by Nicholas Maggio
Written by Nicholas Maggio and Rob Healy
Starring Shiloh Fernandez, Stephen Dorff, John Travolta
Runtime: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rated R
In theaters August 4th

by Stacey Osbeck, Staff Writer

“What’d you want to be when you grew up?” Clayton (Stephen Dorff), a well dressed hitman, casually asks a gas station attendant or waitress refreshing his coffee. Their dreams always underwhelm. However, these brief exchanges in Nicholas Maggio’s directorial debut Mob Land, become the few moments Clayton seems genuinely curious about people. All other times he’s a cold calculated killer.

Shelby (Shiloh Fernandez) lives in the rural deep South. A place with hard working people, good Americans, who can’t understand how opioids quietly crept in. Shelby enjoys a happy household with his loving wife, Caroline (Ashley Benson), and daughter, Mila (Tia DiMartino). Beyond his immediate family, he’s related to Trey (Kevin Dillon) who’s always in some type of trouble as well as the local sheriff (John Travolta). Both periodically stop by.

Knowing of Shelby’s money problems, Trey brings him by a ‘doctor’s office’ that peddles Oxycontin in a strip mall. The office has cash, lots of it. Shelby wouldn’t even have to do anything, just drive the getaway car. He wants no part of it. Then he loses his job. His wife and daughter head out of town to visit her folks and Shelby can’t bring himself to tell them. He only hopes to make things right before they return. Trey’s proposition comes at a vulnerable time making that dream of easy money seem within reach.

Naturally, the robbery goes terribly wrong. A man is shot and killed. Trey snatches stacks of cash and keeps going, raiding their stores of pills. Behind this front isn’t a lone doctor, it’s the mob and they want what’s theirs back. Enter Clayton.

This clean up man first has to assess the extent of the mess. Who in their pill-pusher office spoke with the police? Who might talk in the future? And who are the two locals who set off this fiasco by not staying in their lane? They all have to be tracked down and they all have to go.

Seeing the end game, Shelby tries to get at Clayton first, peering through his motel room windows. The hitman lights a cigarette from behind him, setting the stark understanding that he is and always will be one step ahead. Instead of killing Shelby, he sees some use in him. Clayton has a lot of work to do in this town and could use a getaway driver.

This drive along is the meat of the movie, the two most intriguing characters forced together. Clayton solidly knows who he is and what he’s about, no excuses. There’s something to be said for a person that self-assured. Everyone likes to think that about themselves, but if Shelby had an unshakable code he wouldn’t be in this predicament. He’s not immoral, just a man who slipped up and painfully learns what things cost in this world, beyond money. During this late night ride, their differences and subtle similarities become illuminated. Thankfully, their interactions never threaten to dip into a bromance.

Rural areas seem primed for this type of slow burn thriller. The same story set in gritty city streets might have too much hustling, running, shouting, ‘there’s no time!’ In Mob Land the feeling that there’s no way out is a gradual dawning, increasingly tightening its grip.

Stephen Dorff delivers a powerhouse performance that both horrifies and captivates. Shiloh Fernandez fully embodies the role of a family man fighting to get his life back. The two play off each other pitch perfect.

Clayton inquiring about peoples’ banal childhood wishes is a small thread that falls off the radar, but remains rather striking. Maybe by their reach not exceeding their grasp, they never plunge into the despair of hopes unfulfilled. They don’t have to numb the pain through strip mall doctors pushing oxy. Those small dreams save them.

There’s only one dream that has ever caused people to cross paths with him: easy money. Perhaps that’s why he’s so interested. He knows if he didn’t ask, he wouldn’t have even an inkling of these people. Ordinary aspirations keep them on the straight and narrow, where they’ll never come to a crossroads with Clayton, unless they’re pouring him a cup of coffee.