Director: Harley Wallen
Writer: Harley Wallen (Screenplay)
Starring: John Savage, Billy Wirth, Richard Tyson, Blanca Blanco, TJ Storm, Harley Wallen, Kaiti Wallen
Plot: In an effort to control the city the Mayor opens the doors to the Russian Mob. It is not long until he realizes they aren’t going to follow his rules. To fix the problem he accepts an offer to set up the Russians and open the door for the Cartel. When the Russians find out they take the Mayors Daughter and then the real games begin.
Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Strong Crime Thriller
Story: Betrayed starts when Mayor Alderman (Savage) wants out of his illegal affairs with the Russian mob leader Mikhail (Wallen) and Cartel’s Mr Stone (Tyson) which is a mix of sex trafficking and drug trafficking. He can’t turn to the police, and the mobs won’t take no for an answer, he calls in his fixer Mike Wolf (Wirth).
When the Mayor’s daughter Marie (Wallen) gets kidnapped by Mikhail, the battle to get out of the system increases and the detectives must chase down the truth in time to save the mayor’s daughter and clean up the city before it is too late.
Thoughts on Betrayed
Characters – Mayor Alderman has had his hands in many pockets, now he wants out of this line of business, but it isn’t as easy as that, he becomes the target of the mobs who want to continue operating in his city and must turn to a fixer. Mike Wolf is the fixer, he will do anything to get information, even things that will cross the line, his team will get the results when it comes to locating the mayor’s daughter. Mr Stone is the leader of the cartel, he doesn’t want to play the same games as Mikhail which will only ends up putting him in the bad position. Mikhail is the Russian boss that wants to continue operating in the city, with or without the aid of the mayor, he changes the game making it deadly then before.
Performances – The performances across the board are good for the acting, though the accents can come off generic in parts. John Savage as the mayor works well with Richard Tyson and Harley Wallen (who also directs) giving us god performances, it is strange with a large number of this cast also in a family friendly film ‘Bennett’s Song’ earlier this year and most of these roles are against what we saw in that film. Billy Wirth is the one that shines in the scenes he is in as the fixer who will get answers.
Story – The story focuses on a mayor whose dealings with the mobs has come back to bite him as he tries to get out, he family become targets and he must turn to fixers to solve the problem and save his daughter. This does follow the formula well even if it would be fair to say we get introduced to too many characters, having the mayor, two sides of the mobs, five or six members of the mob, the victims, three detectives and the fixers, which just doesn’t give them enough time to shine, as we don’t hate the villains enough or support the heroes for long enough. The film does want to send a message about sex trafficking business going on in the real world.
Action/Crime – The action in the film is a mix of shoot outs and fights which do the job without being anything ground breaking. The crime world is dark, because of the subject of the crime, the underground sex trafficking world.
Settings – The film is set in Detroit which works, it is a big city in America, we do only see clubs, station, homes or warehouses where the victims are being held captive.
Scene of the Movie – The final showdown.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain moments are blink and you miss what happened.
Final Thoughts – This is a good solid action crime thriller, it tackles a dark subject and makes everything feel like real consequences could happen while tackling the problem.
Overall: Crime thriller in the dark underworld.
Rating
