Movie Review: "By Night's End" (2020)
By Night’s End Movie Review
Written by Stuart D. Monroe
Released by Dark Coast Pictures
Directed by Walker Whited
Written by Sean McCane and Walker Whited
2020, 85 minutes, Not Rated
Released on October 6th, 2020 on Amazon Prime
Starring:
Michelle Rose as Heather
Kurt Yue as Mark
Michael Aaron Milligan as Moody
Carlos Aviles as Parker
Matt LaBorde as Tom
Review:
Don’t you hate it when a procession of criminals shows up to your new house looking to recover the ubiquitous hidden item that’s worth a truckload of money? I do. Things get bloody and violent quickly, you have to shoot someone, the cops get involved…it’s a big mess even before the sinister leader with the cool hat shows up and really complicates things.
Okay, so that’s never actually happened to me, but that’s kind of the point. Some tropes (the “you have what we want” scenario is a classic) continue to work well precisely because empathy is so important to a film’s connection with the audience. I’ve never been in that scenario, but I can easily imagine the many different layers of awful that would result from being in that situation. By Night’s End takes that a step further by giving you characters that have a real story and a ton of baggage to deal with independent of the home invasion that’s threatening their very lives.
Heather (Michelle Rose; Too Close to Home) and Mark (Kurt Yue; The Haunting of Hill House) are in an extremely raw place in their life. Their 4 years have been full of tragedy, and Heather is a multi-tour Army vet, a sergeant who diffused bombs and saw the worst the Iraq War had to offer. Her PTSD and drinking are issues, and Mark is trying to hold it together. They’ve moved into a new house and are just getting by. They’re awakened one night by an intruder who’s searching through their house for something specific. Heather wounds him before ultimately killing him in self-defense. Mark isn’t ready to call the cops, however, and he wants to try and find whatever presumably valuable item the intruder was looking for. Heather acquiesces, and they take an hour to try and find the mystery treasure. All they end up with is a radio that connects them to a threat who knows too much about them (Michael Aaron Milligan; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and stays one step ahead. Then the cops shows up. Then the cavalry shows up. Then it gets really messy.
Damn, that’s a sinister hat!
By Night’s End hangs its hat on the relationship between Heather and Mark, and it goes to great pains to make sure that their personal pain and strife is an issue that actively needs to be dealt with in the movie. It’s handled in a measured way that makes sure you know it’s still a crime thriller and not a drama of the heart, but neither is it a straight action-thriller. That’s not at all a bad thing.
The pacing does lag in the first thirty-five or so minutes, but it’s countered by an Eli Roth-esque moment where the film shocks and changes tone completely. Your eyeballs bug out a bit, and you’re saying to yourself, “So that’s how it’s goin’ down. Alright!” From that point on, the action doesn’t let up but the human element stays strong. It breaks the suspension of disbelief a time or two, honestly, but it’s also necessary to the characters. Overall, By Night’s End strikes a pretty good balance.
Heather is a revelation and a force as a protagonist. She has enough layers to be anything but a cardboard cutout while she is utterly believable as a straight-up badass who gets shit done. Her force of personality and sheer results are strong enough that Mark frankly looks like a bitch by comparison; that’s played upon, too, with effective results. Her skills and her tenacity are revealed in increments during the 85-minute runtime, and by the time you get to Heather’s bathroom fight scene with the intimidating and violent Tom (Matt LaBorde; The Walking Dead) you’ll be a believer.
Both the actors in that scene have a decorated list of stunt credits and deliver first-rate violence that you feel. It’s another detail in a smartly written movie that utilizes the tools in its chest extremely well. Kurt Yue carries the emotional acting load on the sappy side while Michelle Rose plays the tough to perfection. Paired up with heavily contrasting lighting and color usage, By Night’s End combines these elements to create a crime-thriller that’s well crafted enough to keep you intensely locked in and heartfelt enough to have something to say about relationships and why shit just sometimes happens.
Or, to put it more in layman’s terms- I don’t even enjoy action-thrillers all that much, but I totally recommend By Night’s End. No bullshit.
Grade:
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
