“Downrange” (2017)
90 min runtime
Directed by Ryhuei Kitamura
Rating: NR (suggested audience R or M, hard rating)

Trigger warnings: Gun Violence, Extreme gore/blood, Pregnancy, Loss of a child, car accident, death.

As far as thrillers go, Downrange is a lean, mean, killing machine. It’s hard to really break down any storyline or plot in this movie beyond “it's a slasher movie but replace knives with a gun,” and a lot of folks might find this a bit one-note as a result. While that is an absolutely fair opinion, the movie does deserve a chance to be seen; it is a frivolous movie with little to no redeeming value, and that is precisely what I found to give it merit.

This bare bones action thriller makes excellent use of its small cast and sparse setting to deliver maximum excitement. We follow along with a rag-tag band of college students, who are near strangers to one another (minus one couple), as they embark on a road trip to various destinations during a semester break. They end up stranded on the side of the road and attempt to patch a flat tire, and encounter a little more than they ever bargained for.

With little to no place to hide on the side of the road, this not-so-merry band of misfits do their absolute best to “McGuyver” themselves a chance at surviving an utterly harrowing experience. Although we are given very little backstory for the characters (and absolutely bupkis regarding our mysterious evildoer), the leading characters are pretty well-rounded, emotional, multidimensional. The audience learns just enough to create a sense of connection and empathy, reducing the otherwise ominous atmosphere of sadistic voyeuristic satisfaction. There are just enough curveballs here to make it interesting, in what could otherwise be a very tiresome series of predictable or repetitious events. You’ll find plenty of nihilistic humor here, which is the perfect chance to catch a breather during otherwise relentless violence, appropriate for modern audiences in the age of Internet Humor. One might venture to say it gets a helluva lot of mileage out of one flat tire ba dum tssss!.

Take caution when watching with folks who are sensitive to current events such as mass shootings or war-time footage, and avoid like the plague if you have military related PTSD symptoms. It is most assuredly not for the gun averse, as it contains a fair share of bullet-induced bloodshed. If you can handle intense doses of anxiety, violence, and direct viewing of gunshots/related wounds, you’ll be fine.

And while we are focusing on guns for a moment…

If you’re the type of person who digs into continuity errors or logic flaws, I’ll do you the favour of pointing out the most glaring one off the bat. The gunman’s rifle is identified as an antique model, and appears to hold one bullet at a time; through the Magic Of Cinema he manages to fire multiple rounds at once without reloading. There, now that that’s all out in the open, much like our protagonists (haha), you’ll be able to move past it and just enjoy the film for what it is. This is a delicious little vignette of a thriller in which the director makes great use of the roadside ditch setting to ramp up anxiety; as a result the story’s action plays out similar to a barren stage play with minimal prop and scenery. I’d like to delve further into this director’s catalogue, because from what I’ve read of his work this is far from his best entry so I’m very intrigued.

It’s definitely not for everyone, but that is part of what makes it so enjoyable; it’s a rather niche film for a very specific and rather nihilistic audience. If you want a good edge-of-your-seat popcorn-thriller, “Downrange” should do the trick nicely.

Review by Ellen Avigliano
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