Cost of a Soul Review
By David Kempler
Someone Filleted Out the Soul
I've never bought or sold a soul, so I'm not all that clear as to the going rate in the current economy. Judging by Sean Kirkpatrick's first trip into the film writing and directing arena, it's not a precious commodity.
It's a promising plot on paper. Tommy Donahue (Chris Kerson), white, and DD Davis (Will Blagrove), black, are returning from duty in Iraq on the same day. Each is re-entering a life situation fraught with serious problems. Donahue comes home to a pissed-off wife - who slaps him around, then gives him sex during the beat-down - and a young, crippled daughter that he has never seen. This is the first of a huge amount of stereotypes that litter the whole production. Even though he wants to go straight and abandon his previous life of crime, the mean old leader of his gang just won't allow this. Another stereotype that has been beaten to death.
DD enters to similar circumstances, but he had not previously succumbed to the dangerous side of living before joining the armed forces. In his case, it is his older brother that has become a hardcore drug dealer and his younger brother is in danger of falling in with the bad guys. DD can't allow this. Another stereotype: DD's mother is every mother of a family gone bad rolled into one. She reminded me of the mother figure in Michael Keaton's, "Johnny Dangerously", only this time it is not being played for laughs.
Eventually the families of our two main characters collide, which comes as a surprise to absolutely no one. The consequences are enough dead bodies to populate a nicely sized cult bent on its own mass suicide. By the time all of the bullets have stopped flying you will be hard-pressed not to giggle at all of it. Toss in a magical shining briefcase that has been lifted straight out of "Pulp Fiction", presumably as a tribute, and you are left to shake your head in disbelief.
Kirkpatrick does have a flair for directing, even if he tries to jam it down our throats too much. This might at least bode well to his future as a director, but this time his "Cost of a Soul" is pretty soulless.
