Arkansas Movie Re-Script
Warning: Spoilers ahead
In this review I will be discussing what happened in the movie and how things could have been better, so obviously there will be spoilers, you have been warned twice.
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| Image retrieved from thepeoplesmovies.com |
Brief summary
I am writing this summary from memory, except I googled the character's names. Kyle (Liam Hemsworth) confronts someone at their apartment and then his boss promotes him to work for Frog (Vince Vaughn) as a drug mule. He meets Swin (Clark Duke) along the way, his partner in crime to be, who says everyone wants to be his friend.
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| Image retrieved from movieweb.com |
At
some point during the story, Swin and Johnna go to a pawn shop where
they unknowingly meet Frog. Johnna attempts to sell non-functional
bicycle to Frog but he isn't interested. Some unknown guy shows up at
Frog's shop later and tells him he can do a job for him and his boss
sent him to give him a taste. We
also go into a backstory about Frog and his two employees (twins) that he
started with, hearing the same speech that Bright gave to the current
two mules.
The next run for the two drug mules is to deliver to a crazy old man and his crazy son. The old man keeps talking instead of coughing up the dough and saying he doesn't want to be rude. The old man pays them and they leave, not noticing that the boy was following them.
The boy lands up killing their warden and being killed in the process by the warden. The two drug mules find them later that day and the nerd takes responsibility for not watching. Liam digs a hole to bury the bodies and then drives to the old man's house, apologizes for not wanting to be rude and shoots him with his son's gun.
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| Image retrieved from thehollywoodnews.com |
Later down the line Johnna falls pregnant and she starts asking Kyle what they really do for a living and how bad it is. She still decides to stick it out with Swin.
The lady who has been sending them on missions decides to threaten them to reveal what happened to Bright and claiming that Frog wanted to know, but Kyle soon discovers that she was lying and had the drugs with her that needed to be delivered.
Eventually Bright's friend returns and continues asking questions, Kyle kills him and they bury the body. Frog starts to get anxious because he still hasn't heard anything. So he sends out his twins to kill the boys on one of their missions, unfortunately they succeed in killing Swin but Kyle manages to gouge one of the twins eyes out before escaping. Kyle gives Johnna money that they found in Bright's house so she can raise her baby and find Swin's family.
Frog finds out what happens and tries to console the twin, who has now lost his brother and the twin closes the joint accounts with Frog, which means he needs to make another plan. Frog begins setting up something with people in another state, only to find Kyle on his door step, seeking revenge. No time is wasted, Frog is shot dead and the movie ends with Kyle driving into the distance with plans to run his own business as a drug dealer.
My thoughts
I absolutely loved this movie, I might even be a little biased about it because Vince Vaughn is one of my favourite actors. I was surprised to find that the guy who played Swin (Clark Duke) directed the movie, he did a great job. This is also a book adaptation and it makes a lot more sense as to why so much was going on.
The re-script
There were so many fun things in this movie that there isn't that much I feel needs to be fixed, but I will add what I can, for the love of movies.
One big factor in play was that you kind of knew the whole time who Frog was, because of the introduction in the beginning and the need for explaining the back story of the twins. I would have preferred not having that introduction so that we can relate more to the protagonists, who also didn't realise who Frog was. While it may be easy to guess who he is, I would have enjoyed seeing Vince Vaughn play a charming character like he does in some of his comedy movies, it might have thrown us off his tracks that way.
I think there was a lot going on in the movie, mostly because this is a book adaptation, but I would have been alright if some things were left out. I understand that we do want things to be dark and mysterious and to show perhaps the history behind a drug smuggler, but this isn't an unheard of concept and sometimes your audience already gets the gist of it.
I would have rearranged when the flashback occurred with the twins, with the speech that Frog gave to them which I assume was passed down to ranger Bright as well. The speech could have been more towards the end after Kyle figured out who Frog was.
Then going back to Swin, he would have been a much more likeable character to me if he didn't get a woman involved in his life, especially after being told not to. I would have enjoyed it much more if he met Johnna before they met ranger Bright. There would have been a little more romantic tension this way, because it would make more sense then to keep the relationship going in order to lay low, rather than causing a possible scene.
Something that was strange in the town and felt a little empty, was that there were almost no other people. It seemed really easy to lay low and Swin went out of his way to go against the rules. I think it would have been cool if there were a few characters here and there that they would have to greet, it would have made things feel a little more tense as well.
In conclusion
I enjoyed the change of pace and I miss this genre of movies. My favourite scene in the movie was when Kyle took revenge out on the old man for what his son did to ranger Bright. I would be keen to see more movies like this and more movies with Vince Vaughn in.
To my readers,
I just want to make one final distinction that bringing a script to life is a difficult task that directors have to do and we shouldn't forget how much effort they put into making their vision a reality. Some things are easier to notice in hindsight and because of that there will always be room for improvement.
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