Simply A Masterpiece

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I started watching this with little expectation as the plot has all been done before, however as soon as you get a tour through the seedy meth lab in the LA area that feels light years from Disneyland it felt very real. It wasn't until I read about the cast afterwards on IMDB that it all made sense? they are not just from the U.S but from Canada, Australia, Wales, Bermuda - that is what makes this movie separate itself from the rest as they are unknowingly bringing other dimensions to a film that has been done many times before. This movie is worth visiting, not just to see life on the other side of the tracks but to admire the great acting that this group deliver.

There were some aspects of this film that I thought were really interesting and showed glimpses of brilliance but in the end they were often unexplored. The character development itself was my biggest complaint. The main character's family struggle really just doesn't feel invested enough. The thin line between law and criminality, again, glimpses are shown but don't really emphasize but more lightly tread. The law enforcement pressure on their own, and later the circumstances surrounding the characters who are involved in crime was almost frustrating to watch because you are given a tease of how that could have been a major breakthrough, but to no avail.I will say that the setting, characters, and a few individual performances really kept me interested. The guy who played Wyatt ("pornstache") was sort of another level, and he really sold the performance. The main character seemed awkward in the beginning but that (to my surprise) is resolved later on.Overall I'd put this at around 6.5, nothing groundbreaking but some people with a niche for this subject will enjoy it.

While the lead actor, Eliza Taylor, and others do well at building the chemistry between each other, this is only half of the film; the half that takes on the seamy underbelly of the Street drug dealing world seems contrived and the film suffers from a poorly written script, made-for-t.v. acting, and direction that seems scattered and poorly put together. Yes, it might have been a great film, but the focus of what the director presents seems tired and condescending to the viewer. That is, some of the film feels like it wants to build down-to-earth, close relationships between characters who seem sincere. The drug sub-culture parts of the plot displays a lack of understanding of the drug sub-culture and lingo. While this might have been finessed by employing less talk and more affect, the director fails to dovetail the human aspect with the moral one, makes it difficult to identify fully with any one of the characters. The subject matter ends up a drawn-out garbled message that was the main underplot of the entire project; the battle between separating good and evil from the grey emotional places in-between.This may have been better accomplished with less dialogue. Dialogue that sound more like a t.v. crime show rather than the decent indie-style film that it spends more time with. The half half that resembles a television series totally decimated what the character building phase accomplished. There is no happy medium. One comes away from the film feeling like hostages on a very slow, predictable amusement park ride - too long, too boring, and not worth the viewer's effort. Wish the entire crew the best, and hope that next time the director focuses more on overall continuity than wandering around taking us on an obvious message that spends too much time pretending the script is adequate, rather than spending time editing.The initial idea was probably well-intentioned, but this subject matter, once bitten into, seems more than the professionals who made this can effectively chew. Overall very unsatisfying. Four stars only for efforts actor Eliza Taylor, who provided brief moments if engaging and captivating realism.

There are several things that "Thumper" does remarkably well, and that's saying a lot—in the past decade or so, films (and, indeed, television shows) on drugs, drug use, and the war on drugs, have steadily become more staple, enough to establish their own set of tropes and pitfalls. But "Thumper" does enough to both validate and subvert expectations, by allowing organic character beats to drive the plot, and intimate human relationships to steer us into unfamiliar territory.The film's leads—Pablo Schreiber as menacing meth cook Wyatt, Eliza Taylor as shrewd undercover cop Kat—hurl themselves (occasionally, quite literally) into their complex roles with ferocious commitment. From the opening scene, Schreiber brings a furious volcanic intensity into the frame, threatening to explode in a wave of fire and ash. Taylor adeptly matches his performance with what she's given, brazenly going toe-to-toe with him—a notable feat, considering he towers an entire foot over her—and talking back when others fall silent.But it is Daniel Webber's vulnerable, downplayed Beaver—his arc mirrors Kat's in a number of ways, one of the reasons they are drawn to one another—whose agency and actions becomes crucial. And it is Beaver's relationship with Wyatt—in all its sad shades of fear, respect, anger, humiliation, and the need for validation—that changes everyone's lives, for better or worse.Other gritty performances include Grant Harvey as Wyatt's cousin, Troy, who brings to mind a mild, not-so-far-gone Sick Boy, Jazzy De Lisser's hard-boiled addict Gina, and Lena Headey's overbearing, sneering Ellen. It goes without saying that "Thumper" owes much of its praise to its cast—although there is noticeable unevenness with the writing, particularly for the female roles.Despite that unevenness, by the conclusion of the film, we are left with Kat, forced by her ordeal to take a hard look at who she is, and how what she has done has changed her. For a film that initially gives the impression of a creeping cynicism bordering on overwhelming pessimism, Kat's recognition of the drug war for the vicious, violent cycle it is, and her firm decision to break away from it, speaks volumes. Taylor's remarkable performance confirms her ability to bring to life characters with evolving moralities—I hope she continues to explore similarly challenging roles in other independent efforts, which may wisely recognize, and make the most of, her talent.The film's dedication to naturalism makes apparent director-writer Jordan Ross's roots in documentary filmmaking, with the entire film shot with a hand-held camera, setting the film's uncompromising tone. Effective films often affect emotionally and physically, and "Thumper" is one such film, evoking an undeniably visceral reaction, even on my second (and frankly, far more critical) viewing. It doesn't matter if you suspect, through the film's occasional familiar beats, or muted foreshadowing—or certainly know, as I did that second time—what comes next; how the film takes you there will leave you momentarily breathless, at times, shaken, and by the end, entirely struck.