Rumble Through the Dark (2023)

2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Butcher Caper

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Often taking nonsensical, coincidental plot turns, this brutal, violent drama still manages to compel with its vivid depiction of the Mississippi Delta, and the potent characters living there.

Jack 'The Butcher' Boucher (Aaron Eckhart) is a beat-down, washed-up bareknuckle boxer in the Mississippi Delta, who now performs in rigged matches for gambling purposes. He is deeply in debt to crime boss Big Momma Sweet (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and is on the verge of losing the childhood home he shared with his kindly, adoptive mother.

After earning some cash in a fight, he takes it to the gambling tables and comes away with enough to clear his debt. But on the way to pay Big Momma, he is ambushed and loses the money. Big Momma forces him to fight or else face dire consequences. But fate lends a hand when carnival worker Annette (Bella Thorne) comes into Jack's life.

To put a point to it, the plot device in Rumble Through the Dark which causes Jack to lose his money in the first place is pretty hard to get behind. But the way in which he gets the money back is far, far more ridiculous, involving several unmotivated actions and wild, dumb coincidences.

Where the movie comes to life is in its locale, from a ragged carnival to a gas station-slash-soul food restaurant, to the mud-soaked cage in which the final fight takes place (surrounded by snarling dogs, of course). Eckhart gives a lean, taut performance, stripping his usual intelligent malice down to an animal essence.

But it's Jean-Baptiste who is the real treasure of Rumble Through the Dark. While the Oscar-nominee's normal speaking voice consists of a soft, central-London English accent, here she adopts a menacing, deep-south murmur, delivering her poetic, witchy dialogue (including the enigmatic title) in a way that suggests wisdom crossed with ferocity. She makes it worth the price of admission.