Locusts (2019) Movie Review
Director: Heath Davis
Writer: Angus Watts (Screenplay)
Starring: Jessica McNamee, Ben Geurens, Justin Rosniak, Carolina Brazier, Peter Phelps, Andy McPhee, Nathaniel Dean
Plot: Two estranged brothers who are reluctantly reunited in their remote hometown at their father’s funeral. They become the target of an extortion scam at the hands of a gang of violent local thugs.
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Locusts starts when big time software engineer Ryan Black (Geurens) returns to his small remote hometown for his father’s funeral. Where he will meet his estranged brother Tyson (Dean). Ryan will learn that his father has amounted a large debt, one that the local thugs are looking to collect on. This forces Ryan to make the 100.000 dollars in two days or they will kill his brother.
Ryan must turn to the few people in town he still knows, his former girlfriend Izzy (McNamee) and Jake (McPhee) as they come up with a plan to clear the debt.
Thoughts on Locusts
Locusts is a crime thriller that will see the old one person returning to a town he left years ago. Only to learn about the changes that have happened since he left. We see how the one person will need to learn the changes will have consequences for the people involved. In a thriller that will be a race against time, unaware of who to trust in the battle to stay alive.
It is a film that you are waiting for a twist waiting to be revealed, one that will give us plenty of different outcomes trying to put the clues together. When it comes to the performances, we get strong performances. Ben Geurens looking like the fish out of water city man in the small town he returned to. While the performers involved as the locals are strong, without falling too heavily into the stereotypes we are used to. This might not end up being the most intense thriller, but it does plenty to keep us wondering who things could end up differently.
Final Thoughts – Locusts is a by the book crime thriller, desperate to keep us guessing.
