Peeling back malevolent layers of opioid ‘Crisis’

“Crisis”

Rated R. On digital and VOD.

Grade: B

From writer-director-actor Nicholas Jarecki comes “Crisis,” an “inspired-by-true-events,” “Traffic”-tale of drugs, one of them a supposedly improved version of Oxycontin, and several people caught up in the pharmaceutical monsters’ tentacles. These include Detroit DEA Agent Jake Kelly (the scandal-encircled Armie Hammer), his junkie sister Emmie (Lily-Rose Depp) and an undercover operation Kelly is running in Montreal in an attempt to catch a notoriously dangerous Fentanyl dealer known as Mother (a menacing Guy Nadon). Ex-addict and architect Claire Reimann (Evangeline Lilly) is the single mother of a Detroit athlete killed by drug dealers, who make the death appear to be an overdose. Biology professor Dr. Tyrone Brower (Gary Oldman) has discovered that the new drug, dubbed Klaralon, instead of being a safe version of Oxycontin, is three times more addictive.

Also in the mix is Dr. Bill Simons (Luke Evans), a Big Pharma rep who believes the new drug is the “Holy Grail” and isn’t pleased with Brower’s results to say the least, and Geoff Talbot (Greg Kinnear), a corrupt dean in Big Pharma’s pocket and friend of the tenured Brower. As DEA Supervisor Garrett, Michele Rodriguez has little to do. Martin Donovan is on hand as the greedy head of the super-wealthy family that owns the company producing Klaralon. For the most part, Jarecki keeps this multi-character wheel spinning, weaving the several narratives together skillfully.

Like the late Sidney Lumet, Jarecki (“Arbitrage”) is partial to examining institutions in his films (he also adapted the Hollywood fictional expose “The Informers”). Yes, “Crisis” is all a bit familiar, and it stretches credibility to think that Claire, bent on revenge, drives to Montreal, where she meets with an investigator who supplies her with a “ghost gun” to take down Mother. Maybe if Jarecki had made her a police officer, this would be easier to swallow. Hammer’s Kelly is mostly ticked off at everyone else, including his little sister, whom he hogties and tells his mother to leave in her room for two days. Kelly’s DEA buddy Stan (Jarecki) wants to be in on the take down of Mother. If Mother is so paranoid about Kelly, why doesn’t he ask to see Kelly’s phone, which he uses to call his DEA associates? Oldman, who is also one of the film’s producers, was recently triumphant as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour” and Herman J. Mankiewicz in “Mank”. “Crisis” is an ensemble piece to be sure, and he is fine as the morally complex Brower. But Nadon steals the film as the murderous Montreal beardo-gangster. This guy deserves his own movie. Depp also makes a strong impression with the small screen time allotted to her. “Crisis” is about the greed that powers several crises this country has recently faced. It is better than average. But the definitive film about the opioid crisis has yet to be made.

(“Crisis” contains drug use, violence and profanity)

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/30fIA8c