Little Dixie is a film with a few highlights to awaken this crime thriller from the doldrums of its many cliches. Roughly an hour into the movie, Frank Grillo uses a chainsaw to decapitate his latest victim. The next scene features a Mexican gangster post-coital with a drag queen. That’s exactly something I see in so many of these by-the-numbers direct-to-video action pictures. That being said, it could use more of these wilder elements and less of its many routine cliches.
Crimes and Corruption
Frank Grillo is once again playing a familiar character as Doc. He’s the go-between guy for keeping a secret alliance between an American governor and a Mexican cartel. His job gets more challenging when the state executes a cartel higher-up. The governor (Eric Dane) gets eager to cut his tie to drug cartels, the cartel gets angry with the governor, and Doc becomes a pawn.
Although Doc tries to remain hidden behind corners amid the clashing, he’s thrown into the mix when his daughter is kidnapped. Given that he’s divorced, this is his last chance to prove he’s a good dad and save his daughter from violent people. And, in true revenge thriller fashion, the best way to do that is to shoot and punch many people. Maybe even shoot the governor.
The Routine Players
Most of the characters in this crime thriller play their roles with a predictable and steadfast approach. Eric Dane is believable enough as a corrupt governor. Maurice Compte does a solid job as the cartel leader Lalo Miguel Prado, even if he’s given little more than stock dialogue to work with. Dane presents himself as being publicly tough on crime while Prado, in private, speaks angrily about how tough it is to sling drugs in America compared to Mexico.
A standout of the picture is Beau Knapp in the role of cartel enforcer, Cuco. Cuco is interesting primarily because he gets to be a tad more aloof. I didn’t expect part of his pleasure-seeking evenings was to hit up a drag bar and come onto one of the drag queens, luring him back to a motel room for a one-night stand. He doesn’t do anything else out of the ordinary as he struts around in sunglasses, takes Doc’s kid hostage, and ruthlessly guns down any witnesses.
Less Talk, More Guns
Some of the gunplay in Little Dixie is more enduring, not so much for the staging of the kills but for the itchiness of the trigger fingers. This is not a film where characters monologue amid actions. When the lead gangster Cuco betrays his men, there’s no you-had-this-coming or my-turn style exchange. When Grillo takes out the governor’s secret lover, there’s no sorry-about-this or tough-luck sentiment before unloading a bullet into her head.
It’s just as well that Grillo and company favor speaking through violence than cliche banter. After all, there’s plenty of that going on in this film. You better believe there’s a scene where Grillo informs someone about his plan, is told to be careful and gives an assured always-have-been remark.
The lack of reliance of dialogue allows a handful of scenes to be pleasurable in their assembly. There’s no small talk in the film’s highlight of Grillo decapitating a man. He guns down his target, goes off to find a chainsaw, and turns the bathroom into a bloody mess as he lops off a head. Even when Grillo starts talking to the head later, the conversations are brief, forgoing any pointless monologue.
It’s The Little Things
What’s interesting about the film is that there are nuggets of good scenes. I liked how Doc goes on his murderous rampage in a casual and tactile manner. The feisty nature of Doc’s kid makes her more interesting to watch than merely being the crying child in distress. Even Cuco’s mysterious nature hidden behind standard cartel sunglasses has some allure.
The problem is that so much of the film has elements of a better film that never add up. Most of the action goes into autopilot, abandoning many unexpected aspects. I wish I could say that the film remains as surprising as Grillo wielding a chainsaw and Knapp hanging around drag bars. Sadly, it mostly resorts to solid-yet-standard showdowns that are more admirable for the abundance of killings than anything implied by each death. Consider that Doc’s kid at one point uses a pistol to kill a gangster, and it’s treated with a mild cry and a relieved ride home.
Conclusion: Little Dixie
Little Dixie has little moments of thrill amid a sufficient yet standard crime story that Frank Grillo glides through with guns and chainsaws. It’ll satisfy that machismo edge for the thrill-seekers who can’t get enough of a grizzled Grillo killing his way through bad guys. It also has more than one might expect from this genre of film. However, the most notable thing that can be said about this picture amid so many familiar action-crime films starring Frank Grillo is that this is where he decapitates someone, and there’s a drag queen. Outside of that, it’ll probably be lost somewhere around the bottom of the inevitable Grillo boxed set.
Little Dixie is currently available on Bluray/DVD and on digital platforms to rent or purchase.
Watch Little Dixie
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