Director Brian Helgeland’s “Finestkind” would be a great movie if he and the screenwriter ever decided what kind of movie they’re actually intending to make. “Finestkind” has a lot going for it, but it’s hobbled by its terrible tonal shifts. It’s about four movies anxious to burst out and rise to the surface. For a whole hour it’s a drama about the beauty of sailing, then it’s a crime thriller, then it’s a neo-noir about a botched drug bust, then it becomes a tragic familial drama. It never focuses on one theme, thus it comes off feeling so confused and disorienting.
This is a movie that, mid-way, involves violent Boston gangsters that threaten the life of a woman on the verge of giving birth. It then ends on an inspirational and light hearted scene involving Tommy Lee Jones and his on-screen son driving past him on his boast Finestkind. Forget the fact that Jones’ character is dying of cancer and that he might very well die in prison, but at least got the inspirational final scene.
College graduate Charlie reconnects with his estranged brother Tom in order to take up a life as a fisherman on his boat. After their boat sinks, Tom gets in to debt, prompting a turn of events involving Tom’s dad’s boat the “Finestkind.” Desperate to re-claim the boat, the group is entangled with a local gang run by a vicious leader. But when the operation is botched, Tom and Charlie scramble to find a way out before people begin dying.
“Finestkind” is desperately searching for an identity the minute it opens, which is sad because Helgeland wastes such a dynamite cast. While Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, and Aaron Stanford don’t really do much but sleepwalk through the movie, most what unfolds is genuinely carried by Tommy Lee Jones and Jenna Ortega. Even in spite of the script’s inability to decide if she’s a femme fatale or a misunderstood protagonist, Ortega and Jones garner so much of the best moments in the film. One moment Ortega’s Mabel is a shady informant and drug dealer, the next she’s a runaway with a dysfunctional relationship with her mother.
Toby Wallace’s Charlie character has an unearned loyalty to his long lost brother Tom that feels tacked on to his character as a way to give him sorely needed depth, and some kind of motivation to even be in the movie. Jones gets limited screen time, but manages to pull more out of this small supporting role than Foster does the entire time. It’s a let down since Foster and Jones have some taut chemistry that we only get a slight glimmer of. Clayne Crawford is also especially good as the film’s villain Tom, an over the top Boston mobster with a penchant for pulling off his best Ben Affleck impersonation.
“Finestkind” isn’t a complete mess, as the direction is tight, and the supporting performances are memorable, it’s just the script that hinders the film with its sheer inability to decide on a theme or further develop its characters.
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