Crisis is a political crime thriller, written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki (
Arbitrage). Its three interconnected segments deal with the legal and illegal drug business. One of the narrative strands is particularly hard-hitting and compelling, pointing to the profiteering and homicidal activities of the giant pharmaceutical companies.
The movie was the highest-grossing independent film at the US box office on its opening weekend and became the highest-grossing film playing in limited release.
Crisis opens with the arrest of a young drug runner illegally crossing the US-Canada border south of Montreal. The episode links to Armenian drug dealers against whom Detroit-based Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) undercover agent Jake Kelly (Armie Hammer) is running a narcotics sting operation. His target is drug lord Claude “Mother” Veroche (Guy Nadon), a major fentanyl distributor and cross-border operator.
Check out the new DVDs, Blu-rays and streaming shows (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BritBox, Disney+, Acorn TV and more) coming out this week, including
Crisis starring Evangeline Lilly and Gary Oldman .
~Alexandra Heilbron
Crisis – Searching for her missing son, Claire (Evangeline Lilly), who is recovering from an oxycodone addiction, discovers that a boy caught smuggling drugs at the border was her son. Meanwhile, Dr. Tyrone Brower (Gary Oldman), who works for a drug company at the forefront of a new “non-addictive” painkiller medication, discovers that their new drug is causing lab rats to die 10 days after taking it, and now faces the decision whether or not to blow the whistle on them. As their storylines begin to intertwine, the truth behind the opioid crisis begins to surface. Available April 20 on DVD/Blu-ray/VOD/Digital.
February 26, 2021
CRISIS is a well-intentioned and-well shot – on 35mm, no less – thriller about the opioid epidemic. Director/writer Nicholas Jarecki has a lot on his mind here – so much, in fact, that he’s got three distinct plotlines running here. One of these never links up with the other two, which is among the film’s several problems.
A serene, snowy landscape is interrupted by the hectic arrest of a young drug smuggler at the U.S./Canada border south of Montreal.
Then we’re in Detroit, where grumpy high-level drug dealer Jake Kelly (Armie Hammer) turns out to be an even grumpier Federal agent. Jake is trying to bring down both a Fentanyl-selling Detroit-based gang and a Montreal-based supplier by setting up a deal between the two. This requires him going to Montreal and convincing criminal boss Mother (Guy Nadon) that he’s the real thing. In his personal life, Jake is coping with a drug-using younger sister (Lily-Rose Depp).
Crisis | Movie Synopsis and info tribute.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribute.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Subscribe Crisis Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly; directed by Nicholas Jarecki
Nicholas Jarecki s sophomore feature, after his financial-morality laden Arbitrage, is a concoction of three story lines about the escalating opioid epidemic, replete with characters involved at disparate points of despondency and grief.
Set in Montreal and Detroit, the film features undercover DEA operative Jake Kelly (Armie Hammer) who is tasked to link a crew of Armenian power gangsters with fentanyl smuggled from Montreal. Meanwhile, the fearless cop must also deal with his junkie sister (Lily-Rose Depp) in rehab.
Then, there s Michigan resident Claire Reimann (Evangeline Lilly), a recovering addict whose world suddenly comes crashing down when her son turns up dead from a drug overdose. Overcome with despair and vengeance, she sets out on a personal mission to hunt down those accountable.