Director: Seth Savoy
Writer: Kevin Bernhardt, Jason Miller, Seth Savoy (Screenplay)
Starring: Michael Shannon, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Alex Pettyfer, Hayley Law, Oliver Cooper, Gilles Geart, Jacob Alexander, Lesley Ann Warren
Plot: Based on a true story, five college graduates decide the best way to get back at the unfair economy and live the life they’ve always wanted is to steal from Chicago’s richest and give to themselves.
Tagline – ‘If They Won’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let Them Sleep’
Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Echo Boomers starts when Lance Zutterland (Schwarzenegger) finds himself in a difficult position after graduating moving to Chicago where his cousin Jack (Geary) finds him a job in a crew for Ellis Beck (Pettyfer). Ellis has a crew which will break into wealthy homes to steal the valuables and break everything else, supplying Mel Donnelly (Shannon).
As Lance learns the motivation behind the crew, they continue to make their statements, drawing the attention of the cops, forcing them to look for bigger and more dangerous gigs, one which will see them risking more than they could imagine.
Thoughts on Echo Boomers
Characters & Performances – Lance Zutterland is an art major that is finding it hard to find a job, being told the usually over qualified or lacks experience, leading him to turn to his cousin Jack who gets him into a robbery crew, where he grows in ambition but also wants out of this career. Patrick Schwarzenegger in the leading role does what is needed, while the characters makes too many changes through the film. Michael Shannon is Mel Donnelly is the best part of the film, he just steals every single scene with his intensity. When we jump into the crew, we have the usual loose cannons, the family member and the one that wants out the most, they all feel like they are part of the bigger system going on through the film.
Story – The story here follows a young man that joins a crew of fellow young people that want to fight the system of not being given everything they thought in life by stealing from the rich to fund their own lives of luxury, but as always time we start to catch up with them. This is told in a way where the lead character Lance is recounting his story to an author, so we know how it will likely end and getting here is just angry young people acting up. It is hard to support any of the characters we meet here as they just want to act like entitled criminals who thinks the whole world is out against. When it comes to seeing a group of thieves going too far, this is everything we have seen before, without needing to break much that has already been made.
Themes – Echo Boomers is a crime thriller that looks at how a younger generation will turn to crime to get back at a system, while the crimes are non-violent it is more about stealing. The Chicago setting shows how a big city can see people getting swallowed up too.
Final Thoughts – Echo Boomers is a by the book crime thriller that offers very little new and not giving us characters we can support.
