A female drifter running from the law happens upon a gang that stole two million dollars in an out of the way motel/coffee shop called The Frontier.
If you’re looking for an old-fashioned gritty noir thriller with twists and turns and doublecrosses and an ending that both comes out of nowhere and, upon reflection, makes perfect sense, then you’ll enjoy The Frontier.
The Frontier opens on a pair of bloody hands shakily opening a cigarette case and pulling out a smoke. The hands belong to a pretty young woman whose face has the fresh-scrubbed appearance of the mythical mid-western girl.
We fade in on a rural two-lane highway with a lone building in the middle of nowhere – The Frontier Motel and a battered Chevy Nova in which sleeps the same young woman. An older woman knocks on the window and tells her she’s blocking the driveway. She pulls the car into the parking area and the two women go inside.
The older woman is the proprietor, Luanne (Kelly Lynch). The young woman calls herself Laine (Jocelin Donahue, StartUp), and the marks around her throat suggest she’s fleeing an abusive relationship. After breakfast, Luanne offers Laine a job and lets her use an unoccupied room.
Laine takes the room but politely declines the job – but has a change of heart. Her first customer is a hefty, not-particularly friendly fellow named Lee (Jim Beaver, Supernatural, Justified).
A married couple – Flynn (Jamie Harris, TURN, Kingdom) and Gloria (Izabella Miko, Chicago Fire) – come along and take a room. While they’re eating, Laine sneaks into their room and steals some pills and a necklace.
Piecing together TV news, a newspaper article and bits of overheard conversation, Laine figures out she’s stumbled into a chance at the score of a lifetime and puts together a plan.
There’s also the small-town cop, Officer Gault (A.J. Bowen, The House of the Devil), who is both friendly to and wary of Laine. He’s one of those clearly smarter than they look types.
Directed by Oren Shai – who co-wrote the script with Web Wilcoxen – The Frontier is a mix of everything good from the pulps – hard and soft-boiled characters; tons of atmosphere; a lean, withering look; murder; deliberate pacing with flickering explosions of violence; a subtle, underplayed score, and all the twists and turns – not to mention apparent doublecrosses.
While the most complex character in the film is Laine, Lynch gives Luanne’s tale of being a Hollywood ‘It Girl’ who lost her chance because of unfortunate circumstances rather than a lack of talent, a believable and poignant sadness.
The interplay between Donahue and Bowen is fascinating, as well.
The Frontier slots easily into the neo-noir thriller genre, but it’s smarter and deeper than most films of the genre. It’s a gripping, highly entertaining effort from all concerned. It’s available via TVOD on November 8, 2016 through iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, Hulu and on Blu-Ray & DVD on December 6, 2016.
Final Grade: B+