Tright here’s an old-timey attraction about this, a (principally) one-location motion film within the custom of Rio Bravo, or its sort-of remake Assault on Precinct 13. Partly it’s due to the distant mountainous setting in an unnamed state, the log cabin sheriff’s workplace, the vehicles, twangy accents and mentions of second modification nuts; and partly due to the core gadget of getting a heroic determine – on this case, Deputy Tabby Temple (Nikki Amuka-Chicken) – defending the fort in opposition to armed invaders. However the joke’s on us as a result of practically the entire thing was shot in Kosovo and a lot of the solid is British, as is writer-director Will Gilbey, who’s making his function directorial debut after an extended apprenticeship as an editor, author and second-unit dogsbody on the distinctly estuary-accented Rise of the Footsoldier films amongst others. And good luck to the lot of them, as a result of strictly as a style train, that is impressively tense, thrilling and adroitly composed. Plus, the entire solid nails the accents.
Just like the true professional that she is, Royal Shakespeare Firm-trained Nigerian-Brit Amuka-Chicken contributes a efficiency that demonstrates bodily prowess, grit, tenderness, vulnerability and ache in a flip that retains her onscreen all through. Tabby is first met hobbling about with a damaged ankle that after all solely will get defined correctly later. Due to her harm, and the truth that she’s not too long ago been demoted for causes subsequently defined, she’s grounded and dealing the dispatch radio whereas her colleagues go off to analyze a homicide. That additionally means babysitting a drunk meth-head wife-beater (Michael Socha) within the cells and her personal teenage son Monty (Zack Morris from EastEnders) who’s been a naughty boy not too long ago, operating with the native drug crowd. When a locksmith (Philipp Christopher) who involves restore issues after a latest break-in seems to not be a locksmith in any respect, the movie segues into siege mode, with Tabby holding the fort with solely a gun that might malfunction at any second, a shoddy surveillance setup and the radio at her disposal whereas the state police take their candy time.
The final act slides considerably into predictability, however Gilbey pulls out just a few nimble strikes for the motion set items, together with dampening down the sound in order that the pictures sound like muffled puffs of noise, and utilizing distant cameras on police vehicles to disclose motion in different locales. Jericho Ridge has nothing particularly profound to say, but it surely’s a formidable calling card, and hopefully proved a shot within the arm for the Kosovan movie business if nothing else.
