Review: Is ‘Bushwick’ a new normal just around the corner?

SYNOPSIS: When Lucy (Brittany Snow) steps off the subway, she walks into an utter bloodbath on the streets of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood. Texas is attempting to secede from the Union, and militia forces have descended upon New York City to claim it as an East Coast base of operations and negotiation tool. Faced with a flurry of whizzing bullets and total destruction around every corner, Lucy takes shelter in the basement of Stupe (Dave Bautista), a burly war veteran who reluctantly helps her traverse the treacherous five-block stretch of Bushwhack to reach her destination—assuming it’s still there.

BUSHWICK stars Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Spectre), Brittany Snow (Pitch Perfect franchise, Hairspray), Angelic Zambrana (Precious, Fighting), Jeremie Harris (FX’s “Legion,” The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, Pariah), and Christian Navarro (Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why,” Amazon’s “The Tick”).

The film is directed by the filmmaking team of Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott (Cooties), and written by Nick Damici (We Are What We Are, Stake Land) and Graham Reznick (Chilling Visions: 5 States of Fear).

BUSHWICK is unrelenting from its opening shots until the final frame. The audience experiences the story in real time just as the main characters do. With the use of what feels like a single camera, lengthy POV takes (as if the viewer were the unseen third character), add to the heightened pace and overall menace of the film’s plot. Bushwick pulls no punches with its realism. There are small lulls but you might imagine that to be the case if the scenario presented were actually occurring. Overall, the action is non-stop and scary. Both Snow and Bautista deliver down-to-earth performances and give us two very different backgrounds from which to relate to. There are moments that seem unscripted they are so natural and out of the blue. Without spoiling anything, you’ll have to watch to understand what I mean by that. The timing of the film’s release is eerie considering our present political climate. It’s almost like a creepy omen of things yet to come. Don’t be fooled by the trailer. You are in for a much darker ride than you might expect. You can watch BUSHWICK now in theaters, on VOD and Digital HD.

TITLE: BUSHWICK

IN THEATERS AND AVAILABLE ON VOD AND DIGITAL HD: August 25, 2017

DIRECTOR: Cary Murnion, Jonathan Milott

WRITERS: Nick Damici, Graham Reznick

CAST: Dave Bautista, Brittany Snow, Angelic Zambrana, Jeremie Harris

GENRE: Action

DISTRIBUTOR: RLJ Entertainment