Finestkind

Foster is at his best in roles like this one, where his emotions are tightly coiled and always close to exploding, but the storyline does not give him much to work with and Wallace cannot make much out of a blandly-conceived role.

A messy ball of nonsensical threads and worse performances

A boatload of clichés.

This is one of those frustrating dramas wherein it feels like different cast members are making different movies. Foster’s is a grounded character piece&#59; everyone else is doing melodrama.

The big oddity is a script that doesn’t know when to stop talking from writer-director Brian Helgeland, who won an Oscar for writing “L.A. Confidential” back in 1997.

While the end result is set in the present day, there’s a palpable throwback, been-there-done-that vibe to the proceedings.

It’s overwrought, overacted, grossly formulaic, and doesn’t give you many characters to truly care about.

The excellent performances by Jenna Ortega, Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Foster are trapped inside one of the most boring films of the year.

A powerhouse cast and crew anchor this gritty, unglamorous look at a fractious family of fishermen trolling increasingly threatening waters in this feature on Paramount+ and digital.

Today's audiences require more truth than most did in the 1980s, when lunkheaded heroes could make poor decisions, and we'd still cheer them on.