Arkansas is on Apple, Amazon, and On Demand platforms on May 5th, 2020.
Arkansas, a crime thriller about two drug dealers gone rogue, was a movie that seemed like it had a lot
of potential, but never fully formed cohesively. For a movie that was almost two hours, it didn’t feel like
that much happened.
Liam Hemsworth and Clark Duke star as Kyle and Swin (Duke also directed this film), two small time drug
dealers working for a mysterious drug kingpin find themselves working their way up the ladder. They
move to Arkansas, living and working as park rangers by day, making large scale drug runs across state
lines at night. When one of their clients follows them back to the park and murders their direct boss,
Bright (played John Malkovich who did NOT have enough screen time IMO), Swin and Kyle decide to
continue business as usual. They bury Bright and continue their drug runs, taking over the clients.
Instead of fleeing and starting fresh, they view this as a promotion of sorts. What they don’t know is
who Bright worked for – the true kingpin Frog, played by Vince Vaughn. Frog realizes something is off as
all of these events collide with deadly results. Throw in a few side characters for effect, including Eden
Brolin as Swin’s girlfriend and Vivica A. Fox as a client simply referred to as “Her” and you have Arkansas.
To me, this movie felt like it had the makings of a Tarantino- or Coen brothers-esque film, yet it never
formed. I don’t feel like I truly ever understood any of the characters or had enough of their backstories
to understand their motivations. Much of the scenes felt forcibly quirky, leaving me a bit confused as to
what exactly was going on. It had its moments… I love Vince Vaughn and enjoy him taking on more
serious roles like this, and I thought the ending was a very clever close to the movie. However, overall
there was not enough personality or originality for this film to stand on its own legs. During quarantine,
this movie may be worth checking out, if solely for the opportunity to stare at Liam Hemsworth for 2
hours.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Lauren Gallagher (Contributor) is born and raised in South Jersey. When she isn’t yelling at Philly sports teams on the TV, she enjoys seeing the latest action films and true crime documentaries.Click Here to check out Lauren's Articles.