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Bushwick (film)

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Bushwick
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
  • Jonathan Milott
  • Cary Murnion
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Jonathan Milott
  • Cary Murnion
Produced by
  • Nate Bolotin
  • Adam Folk
  • Joseph Mensch
Starring
CinematographyLyle Vincent
Edited byJoe Hobeck
Music byAesop Rock
Production
companies
Distributed byRLJ Entertainment
Release dates
  • January 21, 2017 (2017-01-21) (Sundance)
  • August 25, 2017 (2017-08-25)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$67,880[1]

Bushwick is a 2017 American action thriller film directed by Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion and written by Nick Damici and Graham Reznick. The film follows a military veteran (Dave Bautista) and a graduate student (Brittany Snow) who are caught in an invasion of New York City by a secessionist militia, as they work together to rescue family members and reach a civilian evacuation point.

Plot

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Lucy, a second year graduate student in civil engineering, and her boyfriend Jose exit a subway train in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn when a man on fire runs into the station. Jose goes to see what is happening on the surface and is killed in an explosion. Lucy tries to find help and is chased by two men into a house owned by Stupe, a former U.S. Navy hospital corpsman. Unsure what is happening, Lucy and Stupe both decide to leave the house—Stupe to find his family in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Lucy to reach her grandmother's house elsewhere in Brooklyn—and they agree to work together. Along the way, Stupe gets injured and trains Lucy in giving first aid and shooting a gun.

The pair reach Lucy's grandmother's home, but they find her already dead from heart failure, and flee pursuing gunmen by seeking refuge in the house of Belinda, Lucy's sister. While there, a mercenary breaks in but is subdued and interrogated by Stupe. The mercenary reveals that Texas has seceded from the United States alongside Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Georgia, alongside parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania, to form the New American Coalition. The NAC formed deep-cover militias in American cities to subdue the U.S. with surprise shock-and-awe attacks and overwhelm police and military forces in an insurgency, but they did not account for such fierce armed resistance from the civilian populace. Stupe convinces the mercenary to reveal the DMZ, where the US Army is extracting non-combatants: Grover Cleveland Park. Stupe knocks out the mercenary and the trio begin to make their way to the park.

Along the way, they encounter James and his mother in their building. James' mother blackmails Stupe and Lucy into going to the local church where evacuees are hiding and convincing the parish priest to meet up at a local laundromat to arm everyone to fight back as they head to the DMZ. James and his mother keep Belinda hostage to ensure Stupe and Lucy comply. Stupe and Lucy make it to the church, but when they find the priest, he shoots himself. Lucy then tells everyone to meet up at the laundromat to get guns to fight back with.

As Stupe and Lucy wait for James to arrive with Belinda, they briefly talk about their lives before the war. Stupe reveals that his family had actually died during the September 11 attacks, and he had told Lucy he was going to Hoboken just to try to get rid of her but is glad she stayed with him. As Stupe heads off to the washroom, he is mistakenly shot and killed by a scared teenage girl hiding inside. James arrives with Belinda and they head out for the attack.

They reach the DMZ, but it is heavily guarded by the mercenaries. As the resistance fights back, Lucy and Belinda stick together and run towards the helicopters. Belinda gets shot in the leg and Lucy runs over to her, only to get shot and killed as she tries to drag Belinda. Belinda cries in horror as members of the resistance carry her away. The final shot of smoke shows that the rest of New York City has been under attack as well.

Cast

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Production

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On March 4, 2015, it was announced that Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion would direct the disaster action thriller film Bushwick based on the script by Nick Damici and Graham Reznick, while producers would be XYZ Films' Nate Bolotin and Bullet Pictures' Adam Folk. Jane Levy was attached to play the female lead role of Lucy.[2] On September 9, 2015, Dave Bautista also joined the film to play war veteran Stupe.[3] On November 4, 2015, Brittany Snow was cast in the film, replacing Levy.[4] The score was composed by rapper and producer Aesop Rock.[5] Lakeshore Records has released the soundtrack.

Principal photography on the film began early December 2015 in Brooklyn, New York City.[6][7]

Reception

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Critical response

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On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 5.44/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Bushwick's sociopolitical subtext gives it more heft than the average action thriller, but those ideas are given short shrift in what amounts to a disappointing shoot-'em-up."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]

Simon Crook for Empire praised the film calling it a brilliant B-movie with a political punch and called for a sequel.[10] Geoff Berkshire at Variety wrote that "Even if the low-budget execution is uneven at times, there’s enough snap to the filmmaking, and enough raw power in the premise, to make for solid B-movie excitement.[11] Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine called it a "a genre film with a refreshing sense of political infrastructure".[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Bushwick". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  2. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 4, 2015). "Jane Levy Signs On To Brooklyn Disaster Film 'Bushwick'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  3. ^ Pedersen, Erik (September 9, 2015). "Dave Bautista Joins Jane Levy In Indie Action Thriller 'Bushwick'; Clementine Nicholson Cast In 'Underworld 5'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  4. ^ Ritman, Alex (November 4, 2015). "AFM: Brittany Snow to Cross 'Bushwick' With Dave Bautista (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  5. ^ Strauss, Matthew (December 18, 2015). "Aesop Rock To Score Upcoming Film, Bushwick". Pitchfork. Condé Nast. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  6. ^ Hybenova, Katarina (December 8, 2015). "Brittany Snow and Dave Bautista Are Filming Action Scenes in Bushwick". Bushwick Daily. Archived from the original on 2017-08-13. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  7. ^ Christine (December 10, 2015). "'Bushwick', starring Brittany Snow, filming in NYC this week". On Location Vacations. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  8. ^ "Bushwick (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  9. ^ "Bushwick Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  10. ^ Crook, Simon (August 23, 2017). "Bushwick Review". Empire. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  11. ^ Berkshire, Geoff (January 23, 2017). "Film Review: 'Bushwick'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  12. ^ Bowen, Chuck (August 22, 2017). "Bushwick". Slant Magazine. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
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