Crisis is a 2021 crime thriller film, written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Jarecki, starring Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly, and Gary Oldman. The three main stars play vital roles in the story, each with their own narrative but are intertwined due to illegal drugs making the rounds, affecting their work and personal lives. The film’s setting hops between Detroit, Michigan, and Montreal, Canada.

Armie Hammer plays Jake Kelly, a federal agent tasked with taking down a drug trafficking scheme, Evangeline Lilly portrays Claire Reimann, a single mother seeking justice after the death of her teenage son related to the drugs. Dr. Tyrone Brower is portrayed by Gary Oldman, a university professor who got dragged into helping develop a supposed non-addictive pain killer by the pharmaceutical company but has serious suspicions about its effects.

The film does a decent job illustrating how recreational and dangerous drugs can affect people and those close to them. Armie Hammer does well in the role of a federal agent simply doing his job investigating the drug trade, but when a family member becomes addicted to one of the drugs and goes missing, things become personal. Evangeline Lilly also does a good job at portraying a single mother going through the grief of losing her son and the scene of her in his room looking around, really illustrates the pain and sudden loneliness she experiences while coming to terms with her devastating loss.

Because of this, she becomes determined to find answers and seek justice, taking matters into her own hands, even with her lack of experience but doesn’t let that stop her. Gary Oldman displays his craft as a man happily making a living as a university professor with the perfect family life at home but gets caught up in the mess of being pressured to help develop the new pain killer and even has a scandal brought up from his past that could greatly damage everything he has achieved.

Even with the interesting story that sets the tone of the movie and the actors playing their roles to the best of their abilities, overall, the movie just leaves much to be desired. There are many moments with a lot of build-up and suspense but falls short on the execution. With the three separate narratives, it sometimes even feels like three separate movies as the momentum is constantly shifting with the editing, which also makes it confusing. All of this can make the story a bit difficult to follow. The ending gives one satisfactory conclusion to one of the main characters but feels like it just ends abruptly for the other two.

Overall Crisis has an interesting premise with a star-studded cast to get the audience’s attention at the beginning but comes up short on the execution on several occasions. It’s labelled as a ‘thriller’ but unfortunately doesn’t come with the thrills.

Written by: Sammy Hanson