Payday (2017)
Film Review
By the Geezer of Oz
Ben, a small time criminal, holds up a busy restaurant in a small town. The poorly planned heist spirals into a hostage crisis beyond his control. Amongst the hostages is Ben’s girlfriend and the restaurant’s Manager, Adie. As Ben tries to keep their connection secret while negotiating with the police, Adie has her own plans in mind.
With a desire to make a film of similar feel and intent to his favourite of the genre, Sidney Lumet‘s Dog Day Afternoon, director Chase Dudley (Payton’s Burden, Marvelous Mandy, Beasts of the Field) set out to, in his own words, “tackle on a hostage negotiation heist film” of his own. Being an indie director working on an extremely low budget, those are some lofty goals he set for himself. Payday possesses an ensemble cast, a large number of extras, as well as many other production challenges that a film with its budget size, generally would not risk attempting. Needless to say, the level of difficulty here is quite high.
Therefore, in its favour, Payday does well in this largely one location setting of a restaurant full of patrons, who’s meals are suddenly interrupted by a lone gunman and chaos ensues. While the majority of the film take place inside the restaurant, the space is used quite nicely as scenes take place in a number of rooms, as well as outside the establishment, where the authorities scramble to regain some semblance of control of the situation. This gives the film a more open and spacious atmosphere and less of a claustrophobic, low budget feel.
The cast also equate themselves quite well. Derek Babb (Brotherly Love, #Slaughterhouse) does a good job as the out-of-his-depth robber, Ben. Lara Jean Mummert (2 Jennifer, Anomaly, Lilith, Ugly Sweater Party) does well in a very tough role as the two-faced restaurant manager, Adie. Tiffani Fest (Circus of the Dead, For Jennifer, Garden Party Massacre, Ugly Sweater Party) has some great moments as the sympathetic Detective Riley. Ex-WWE and WCW wrestler turned actor Bishop Stevens (Faces, Thy Neighbor) showcases some acting chops and charisma as Sherriff Chappel. Tory L. Beckham (Marvelous Mandy), Colton Wheeler (Lilith, Ugly Sweater Party, TV’s Extant and X-Men Revolution) and Sandra Holliger (Retribution) also do a fine job making up the rest of the main cast.
The script largely holds up well and while there were several choices I was not entirely sure about, what indie film goes without facing some tough choices and then creating solutions to impossible problems on the go? The production value is well above average, the cinematography decent and scenes involving weapons and violence were mostly convincing. It needs to be said that Chase Dudley did a great job with a minimal budget, which shows a resourcefulness beyond what we generally get to see in indie films. If the intention was to create a legitimate hostage/heist film, it can be said that Dudley came out on top and achieved his intended goal.
Imperfect, yet both inspiring and entertaining. 7/10.
