It
wasn’t dingoes that took Medora Slone’s child. It was wolves. At least,
everyone believes her, because this thing has happened before. However, that
will not placate her husband when he returns from serving in Fallujah. Although
his wrath will surely fall on his wife, there is no telling who else might feel
his rage. For someone as ferocious as Vernon Slone, the loss of his son could
just be an excuse for a bloody rampage. Ultimately, there is no why. Vernon is
just wild and violent. That could describe several characters in Jeremy
Saulnier’s Hold the Dark (trailer here), which premieres
on Netflix this Friday.
Medora
has summoned broken down naturalist Dr. Russell Core, a noted wolf advocate,
hoping he will track and kill the wolves that presumably carried off her young
child to his death. Although he is a conservationist, he keenly empathizes with
the grieving mother. He also senses something is a little off with her. That
intuition is born out when she disappears right before her husband’s return.
She has her reasons.
Instead
of tracking wolves, Core helps local sheriff Donald Marium track Vernon and
Medora. The former leaves a trail of dead bodies that are quite easy to follow.
However, the more elusive Medora has set off into the dark heart of the Alaskan
wilderness.
Hold the Dark has even more
carnage than Saulnier’s previous films, Blue Ruin and Green Room, but it is
loaded sinister spiritualism and heavy allegorical symbolism. Yes, people are
wolves—and even worse. Still, it must be stipulated, Saulnier crafts an eerie
mood that is hard to shake.
For
better or worse, the film peaks about midway through when Cheeon, one of
Vernon’s Native Alaska drinking buddies, ignites a massive shootout with
Marium’s deputies, to provide a distraction. This might be the most intense and
horrifyingly brutal gun fight ever staged on film.
Yet,
there is also deeply humanistic element to the film, thanks to Jeffrey Wright’s
performance as the profoundly world-weary Core. It is painful to watch him
gasp, wheeze, and stew in his regret and remorse. Similarly, James Badge Dale’s
Marium gives us a grounded, tragically decent everyman figure to identify with.
On
the other side of the spectrum, Alexander Skarsgard is big, hulking, and
quietly creepy, totally footing the bill of a villain who evokes the
supernatural. The chameleon-like Riley Keogh is also quite unsettling as
Medona, but Julian Black Antelope overshadows them both as the lethally
resentful Cheeon.
