Review by John Delia
The crime thriller Pay Dirt puts you in the middle of a dispute between a major crime lord and an ex-con wanting to get retribution after serving a jail term. The storyline, while taking place in a different setting and time, will seem a lot like you’ve seen it before. This production, although low budget, does have some interesting characters and a bit of good comical relief, but in the end fails to entertain more than that.
Convict Damien “The Brit†Brooks (Luke Goss) gets released from jail after serving 5 years for distribution of marijuana. But, the local drug cartel is very interested in Damien as he was in possession of over $30 million from a DEA robbery. Since the cartel boss had set up, he’s been waiting the 5 years for Damien to lead him to the money. Having eluded the cartel boss by being in prison, Damien plays dumb on where the money ended up.
Having retired after getting embarrassed for not getting the DEA money, Sheriff William Tucker (Val Kilmer) has not given up in finding all the cash and has a score to settle with Damien. With both the cartel and the ex-Sheriff closing in on Damien, he’ll have to pull some luck out of his bag of tricks.
Director and writer Christian Sesma works out his script introducing several characters along the way. He gives them mob nicknames like The Brains played by Mike Hatton who was in charge of working out the details of the DEA robbery, The Brawn played by Paul Sloan who protects the boss and The Don played by Nick Vallelonga who keeps Damien out of trouble with the cartel. He also involves some awesome looking women for eye candy, but don’t be distracted by that as they are some real killers.
The film gets very silly at times, becomes very predictable and features a lot of raw talent that give not so good performances. You can see the low budget in the low cost backdrops, sets, and locations. Add to this the amateurish make-up, fight choreography, and camerawork causing a downer.
Pay Dirt has not been rated by the MPAA, but contains violence, drug use, sexual innuendos. The film is available on VOD, Digital HD.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Not really that good. (2 out of 5 Stars)
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Luke Goss, Val Kilmer, Mike Hatton, Mercedes Kilmer
Directed and written by: Christian Sesma
Genre: Crime, Thriller
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, violence, drug use, sexual innuendos
Running Time: 1 hr. 21 min.
Opening Date: August 7, 2020
Distributed by: Uncork’D Entertainment
Released in: VOD, Digital HD