Taut, claustrophobic, intense, overwhelmingly impressive single location thriller that unloads a mass unexpected against all odds survival moments, led by a quality performance of incursion by Nikki Amuka-Bird, as Deputy Sheriff Tabby Temple.
The remote police station of Jericho Ridge has been robbed and is now a crime scene. An injured Tabby who has had recent time off, is called to sit in on dispatch whilst colleagues go out on a lead to pick up the potential culprit. Things soon turn askew for Tabby after letting in an unusually quiet locksmith, to fix certain locks due the break and enter.
He’s there lurking in the back with ulterior motives whilst Tabby is figuring out something is not right when revealed her colleagues might be part of a decoy. Confronting the fake locksmith. the stakes suddenly get higher. It’s an ambush, the station is suddenly under siege by cruel snipers, determined to claim a piece of evidence held somewhere inside.
Tabby is holed up inside. on a crutch, in possession of one gun with wrong sized bullets in the chamber, a wayward teenage son (Zack Morris) with a secret by her side, one flak jacket and a woman-bashing drunk locked in a cell.
With incoming state police backup still thirty minutes away, things are grim, in particular with her serious leg injury, but Tabby has resistance bustling around in desperate shootouts and rapid fire thinking to keep alert and alive.
With economic homages to western classic, Rio Grande (1950) or either of the impressive, Assault on Precinct 13′ films (original 1976 – remake 2005) this is a solid, rigid indie drama full of ferocious situations keeping an audience on edge, I loved it.
It’s no surprise writer, director Will Gilbey has a background in editing. Key moments are edited to perfection increasing shock value whilst sound is imperative. A ton of vibrantly specific sounds shift your senses throughout, from footsteps to doors clanging to bullets flying by assisting relentless momentum.
On point from the beginning, Nikki Amuka-Bird is a wonderful action hero of a different kind, in pain on the outside and the inside due to dysfunctional family history. A mother and son confession is a rare sombre moment amongst chaos.
Various plot decisions made could feel objectionable, just don’t think too hard. Jericho Ridge, is a raucous B-movie that contributes to A-grade entertainment.
★★★
Thriller, Crime | UK/USA, 2024 | 15 | Cinema | 25th April 2024 (UK), 29th April 2024 (Digital) | The Movie Partnership | Dir. Will Gilbey | Nikki Amuka-Bird, Zack Morris, Chris Reilly
Follow Shane A.Bassett at X/Twitter @MovieAnalyst
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