Day of Reckoning, on Tubi

Kyle Rusk is a stone-cold outlaw. Marshal Butch Hayden and his men also have serious outlaw tendencies. Getting caught between them is a lonely place for an honest cop like Sheriff John Dorsey to find himself, but he always does his duty. The ensuing standoff might just kill him, but Dorsey is running out of things to lose in Shaun Silva’s Day of Reckoning, which premieres this Friday on Tubi.

Rusk just knocked over another bank, but Hayden is waiting for him at his budget motel, for yet another reckless shootout. Somehow, the bank-robber escapes, but the Marshal figures he must be headed to his girlfriend Emily’s farm. That would be smack in the middle of Dorsey’s jurisdiction—at least for the next few weeks. His deputy, Danny Raise, looks poised to unseat him. To compound the insult, Dorsey also suspects Raise is sleeping with his wife.

Dorsey felt under-equipped for a Rio Bravo-style standoff at Rusk’s farmhouse. Much to the Sheriff’s disgust, he walks into a veritable hostage situation, in which Hayden’s deputy marshals, who are more like mercenary bounty hunters, are holding Emily Rusk as bait. They are all mean and untrustworthy, but Dorsey still must most likely fight alongside them when Rusk arrives with his biker-gang reinforcements.

Reckoning, (technically, Scott Adkins’ second such reckoning day, following Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) is a gritty, low-frills B-movie, but Silva has full command of its neo-Western aesthetics. Although Adkins has much less screentime than the antagonistic marshal and sheriff, he has ample opportunity to show off his villainous chops. Indeed, he is entertainingly ferocious as Rusk. (He has moved away from bad guys, into leading action figure roles, but he still has the skill set.)

Frankly, it is hard to recognize Billy Zane (of The Phantom and Titanic) as the seedy and sickly Hayden. Honestly, it is shocking to see him, hopefully going full method, in such a state of corrupt decay. Trace Adkins adds even more gristle and a deep baritone as Big Buck, the underworld boss loaning back-up to Rusk. Zach Roerig and Cara Jade Myers are far less flashy than the three aforementioned, but they develop convincing Stockholm syndrome chemistry as Dorsey and Emily Rusk.

There is no denying the film’s down-and-dirty grunginess, but that is also its strength. The outlaws act like outlaws and so does just about everyone else, accept Dorsey. Recommended for Adkins fans and Adkins fans (since the country crooner contributes to the soundtrack), Day of Reckoning starts streaming tomorrow (6/13) on Tubi.