CRISIS – Review

The crisis at the center of writer/director Nicholas Jarecki’s thriller CRISIS is the opioid crisis. The fact-inspired thriller CRISIS runs on three lines – a whistle-blowing scientist, a woman recovering from addiction to prescription painkillers unraveling a tragic mystery,, and an undercover DEA agent trying to break up a drug ring running prescription painkillers across the US-Canadian border. The triple thriller has a lot of threads to keep track of but CRISIS features a sterling cast headed by Gary Oldman, Evangeline Lilly, and Armie Hammer.

Gary Oldman, Evangeline Lilly and Armie Hammer all head up separate narrative threads that represent different aspects of the vicious circle of the opioid crisis. Although the Covid pandemic has pushed all other crises off the headlines, this one has continued to grow and will quickly re-emerge in the public sphere. Jarecki tackles the whole of the opioid problem, from the over-prescribing of drugs deemed safe, often rushed to market by large drug companies more focused on profit than careful research, and then their transformation into street drugs.

The Canadian/Belgian production CRISIS tells its tale through three threads, with different individuals battling the tragic situation from perspectives, story lines that alternate throughout the film. Gary Oldman plays Dr. Tyrone Brower, a university biology professor who also does research for a drug company as a way to fund his lab’s other research, but runs into trouble when he uncovers a problem with the company’s latest painkiller, which is on the verge of FDA approval. Brower is under pressure from the drug company whose research he does but also Dean Talbot (Greg Kinnear) of the university where he works.

Armie Hammer plays Jake Kelly, an undercover DEA agent tracing the illegal movement of opioids across the US – Canadian border. Kelly has infiltrated a Montreal-based drug operation headed by gang boss known as Mother (Guy Nadon). At the same time, he is dealing with his own drug-addicted younger sister Emmie (Lily-Rose Depp). Nicholas Jarecki appears in his own film as Stanley Foster, Jake Kelly’s undercover partner, while Michelle Rodriguez plays Supervisor Garrett, Kelly’s boss at the DEA.

Evangeline Lilly plays Claire Reimann, a recovering opioid addiction, whose addiction started with a prescription after an accident, who is racked with doubts and guilt about that as he raises her son as a single parent, When her son goes missing, she is frantic but when the police suggest her son’s disappearance may be linked to illegal drug trafficking, she decides to uncover the truth.

Nicholas Jarecki’s dramatic thriller with alternating, overlapping stories will remind some of 2005’s CRASH and other overlapping-stories films, although not all of the threads come together so neatly in CRISIS. Still, opioid addiction is such a huge and growing problem that has been overshadowed, like everything else, by the pandemic, so the film takes on a worthy topic

The individuals are fictional but the crisis depicted is quite real. The plot explores the opioid crisis through the whole chain that drives it, including drug companies developing the prescription drugs that are later turned into street drugs, the law enforcement battle against powerful drug runners, and the struggles of those who become addicted through prescription and their families. It is a lot of territory to cover in a single film, and Jarecki does sometimes struggle to keep all the balls in the air, not always completely successfully. Still the film’s important topic, and the parts that do succeed, make the film worthwhile as well as involving entertainment, a good combination.

The film alternates between the three story lines in a balanced fashion, and develops into a thriller of sorts as the complications and twists unfold. Eventually, two of the three threads converge but the lack of integration of the third one, perhaps the most significant one, leaves the film feeling a bit less dramatically balanced than it might have been.

The production was shot in Canada and features some scenic dramatic sequences, particularly the opening one in the snowy mountains as law enforcement chase a young man smuggling drugs across the US-Canadian border. Generally the photography by Nicolas Bolduc is nicely done, and he does a fine job keeping the pace up as the drama moves into a thriller mode.

Acting is very good all around. Unsurprisingly, Gary Oldman is excellent as the scientist caught in a murky dilemma between his ethical standards and practical concerns about keeping his lab running. Under pressure between the drug company that funds his lab and the dean of his college, Oldman gives a moving performance and a man who must sort through his feelings, the facts and potential consequences. Evangeline Lilly is likewise effective as Claire Reinmann, a recovering addict who became hooked on opioids after an injury, whose fragile emotional state is shaken when her son suddenly disappears and the police suggest a link to drugs, a situation that Lilly explores with heartbreaking, nuanced sensitivity in her excellent performance. Even Armie Hammer, who is not in the same acting league as Oldman or Lilly, is well cast in his role as the iron-jawed undercover agent, and does well in the part. He handles both the action hero-type scenes and in the ones requiring more dramatic finesse well, including those with Lilly-Rose Depp, who plays his drug addicted sister.

THE CRISIS strikes the mark unerring accuracy in its exploration of the various elements that fuel the opioid crisis, and provides a timely reminder of this expanding crisis, which may have been pushed off the headlines by the pandemic but has by no means gone away. THE CRISIS is available on demand and on digital starting March 5.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars