Road to Perdition novelist Max Allan Collins’ signature hit-man character of Quarry blasts his way onto the big screen in The Last Lullaby. But debuting director Jeffrey Goodman’s little film isn’t quite the pulpy bag of sex and violence from the books and short stories. Abound in atmosphere, this Lullaby is a low-key, low-budget crime thriller that plays for mood, not mayhem. In doing so, the whole thing sneaks up on you, subverting your expectations, digging under your skin and having genuine staying power.
Tom Sizemore (Heat) plays Quarry — here named Price — a former freelance assassin who lives a lonely, empty life. One night, he happens upon a young woman (Sprague Grayden, Paranormal Activity 2) being held hostage inside a shack of a house in the country. One “holy shit!” moment later, Price saves her. She wrongly assumes he’s been sent by her big-shot father (Bill Smitrovich, Eagle Eye), who is so grateful for his daughter’s return that the jogging-suited papa offers Price a job — the temporary kind.
Price is not interested; he’s recently retired from the killing game. But $1 million is tough to turn down. His target: Sarah (Sasha Alexander, TV’s NCIS), a nonthreatening librarian. Why would someone so mild-mannered have a price on her pretty little head? Price is intrigued enough not to off her right away, just to find out.
The movie’s biggest detriment going in turns out to be one of its greatest assets: Sizemore. Given his tabloid antics of recent years that have made him known more for his public life than his performances, no one ever says, “I can’t wait to see Tom Sizemore’s next!” Through his own fault, it’s easy to forget how good of an actor he can be, yet within just the first few minutes, all the media-circus baggage that surrounds him just melts away. Alexander nearly matches him, and their last scene together — the film’s final shot, incidentally — gave me chills. Goodman does a great job with limited funds, managing suspense while also purposely maintaining a walking pace — a nice antidote to the usual, pedal-to-the-metal approach of the thriller genre. —Rod Lott
I’m gonna look this one up.