DIRECTED BY: Christopher Smith
STARRING: Tye Sheridan, Stephen Moyer, Emory Cohen, Bel Powley, John Lynch, Gbenga Akinnagbe and Reine Swart
SYNOPSIS
A young law student blindly enters into a pact with a man who offers to kill his stepfather, whom he feels is responsible for the accident that sent his mother into a coma.
Detour focuses on young law student Harper, who blames his stepfather Vincent for causing the car accident that put his mother in a coma and believes he’s also having an affair. One evening he discusses this with criminal Johnny Ray over drinks, finding out that it would cost $20,000 to have the problem with his stepfather solved. The next morning Johnny Ray and a young woman named Cherry arrive at Harper’s doorstep looking to carry out the murder of his stepfather in Vegas.
Detour is a film from Christopher Smith (whose directed films such as Creep and Triangle) that appears to follow the format of Peter Howitt’s Sliding Doors with a tweak as we follow young law student Harper, who interacts with criminal Johnny Ray and asks rather curious questions about how much it would cost to hurt his stepfather, who he believes is not only cheating on his mother, but has caused the accident that has left her in a coma and on death’s door. Johnny Ray appears the next morning as is ready to take Harper to Vegas to commit the deed and won’t take no for an answer.
Detour is a film that goes for a stylistic road trip drama with a neo noir vibe which is complemented by the cinematography work by Christopher Ross, as well as the colour-coded characters, with Harper popping with his yellow jacket compared to Johnny Ray’s dark jacket, ripped shirt combo. Johnny Ray is the more ‘showboat’ role of the two characters as he’s more aggressive as well as manipulative of not only Harper’s situation, but Cherry’s too and I thought that Emory Cohen handled the role well as he has a certain charm in playing against type I’ve seen him in Brooklyn and The OA. Tye Sheridan is also fine as Harper, who is clearly out of his depth and no matter how much he believes that he has a plan to turn things around in his favour, one simple action may have a dreadful consequence. Christopher Smith takes letting the two choices of Harper’s decision to either leave with Johnny Ray or stay in the house evolve and for about half of the films runtime the concept and the arcs are intriguing to see where the story goes.
The problem with Detour however is that the story is fine in certain scenes, particularly in the first half of the film as it begins the setup of the characters and the two alternative paths scenario, but in the second half the film runs out of steam as it tries to juggle certain motivations and schemes. The main reason I was intrigued, the question of did Harper’s stepfather have anything to do with his mother’s current predicament or was he just looking for someone to lash out at, is entirely neglected and unresolved, making way for Johnny Ray’s motivations for pursuing the money to make the hit and who the money is for, as well as the subplot of abducting a police officer. Bel Powley, while I thought was fine in the film, is playing a rather one-dimensional character here compared to Sheridan and Cohen (which to be frank, are just apart two-dimensional at best), underwritten and feels disposable to the story as well as her fellow male leads, which is a shame. By the films final act I just couldn’t find myself to care for any of the lead characters and where they would end up and the films plotting doesn’t help add tension or suspense as the majority of the reveals either come too early or are heavily implied before they happen.
VERDICT
An intriguing premise by adding in a supposed alternative reality of how one action could lead to dark consequences, regardless of how small or big it is, is engaging for the first half of the film but then as it attempts to reveal certain pieces of information in the second half as well as add in a certain plot element to proceedings, it took away the focus of what interested me in the beginning and fizzled out for me in the final act. Though the performances from Sheridan, Cohen and Powley are fine, the characters just weren’t good enough for me to invest in. 4/10
Irish Cinephile 