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Cast: Thomas Stroppel, Ted Rooney, Tom Berenger, Storm Large
A young man (Thomas Stroppel) struggles to leave a small town militia started by his father when The Group forms connections to a national militia led by a wealthy kingpin (Tom Berenger) with an extremist agenda.
"Bucksville" tells the story of 25-year old Presley Alan French. Presley is part of has grown up to be in a secret militia called The Lodge. It was mainly a birth right since his father is the group's leader. He along with his cousins are forced to be part of this group that passes and its own judgment and executes its own penalties to those they feel have done wrong.
Presley doesn't like what the group does but after his father suddenly dies his uncle takes over the leadership but things begin to get even worse when he joins up with a right wing Militia group that is run by a multi-millionaire who has bigger plans for the group.
Right from the start "Bucksville" reminded me of the Michael Douglas film, "The Star Chamber." The latter dealt with a group of judges who extracted their own brand of justice. Even though both are similar "Bucksville" still brings its own ideas to the table. The film is complex, there are many different characters in the film and the story have several twists and turns a long the way. Presley is a man that does not like where the group and headed and he simply wants out, He also cannot get over the fact that his mother left him when he was little. It seems she took his sister but Presley's father would not let her take him and you can figure out the reason why.
Like any group like this especially one that is deep in family tradition getting out is pretty much impossible, at least not alive so Presley takes a big risk in attempting to do so. I will be honest, I was not expecting much from this film and the trailer did not make anymore excited about it but as soon as the film started I was hooked. The interested characters and the multi-layered storyline where grabbed my interest and I could not turn away from the screen. I was lifted to the edge of my seat as I waited to see what was going to happen to his young man. The story deals with moral issues and it delivers on tension and suspense that builds slowly as the film moves along.
I cannot say that others will enjoy the film as much as I did but I really enjoyed so much more than I expected to. "Bucksville" is as thought-provoking as it is thrilling. I have not felt for a lead character more than I did for Presley in a long time and his uncle is one of the easiest characters to hate because the man is pure evil and a real fanatic.
In the end this is was a tragic tale of a small group of men that let their ideas and fanatical ways get the best of them. A solid thriller that is made better by a great cast, Thomas Stroppel is fantastic as Presley and it was nice to see Tom Berenger again. I am not going to sit here and name every actor in the film but I will has each and everyone played an important role in the over-all story. "Buckville" is an intelligent, thought-provoking and engaging thriller. It will be available on DVD on April 29, 2014. You can Pre-order it HERE.
Released by Monarch Home Entertainment
**** Out Of *****