Wrong Place, Wrong Time (2021) Review
Wrong Place, Wrong Time opens in the middle of a shootout between some heavily armed crooks and a collection of FBI and police officers. Despite at least one of the cops having SWAT on his vest none of them have anything heavier than a pistol. He’s also the only one with body armour. Needless to say, the bad guys make short and bloody work of them and several civilians.
When things go wrong and Gabriel (Mike Markoff, The Rockville Slayer, The Cove) takes a bullet they need to find a place to hide. They find one, complete with a family they think will make good hostages. They’re going to wish they took their chances with the cops before this night is over.
Writer/director/producer Justin Price has a long list of credits that includes The Mummy Rebirth, The Dawnseeker and Abominable. If you’ve seen any of them, or read my reviews you have an idea of what I was expecting from Wrong Place, Wrong Time.
For the first twenty minutes Wrong Place, Wrong Time is a heist film with a rather confusing plot. There’s a robbery of actual cash, but then there’s a twist involving banking information for hidden and laundered cartel, mob and government money. This apparently requires a second heist, which happens off-screen. Once they break into the house and find a family and a pair of mute, tied and shackled women things take a turn for the strange. Unfortunately, it’s a slow, gradual turn and we get a lot of tough-guy talk, arguing and accusations of who double-crossed who before Wrong Place, Wrong Time finally turns.
Unfortunately, despite the distributor’s claims, it doesn’t turn into anything resembling Resident Evil. If you’ve seen the trailer then you know it’s not even a zombie film. What it does resemble is The Last Heist, with its criminal crew locked in with a seemingly unstoppable killer. Unfortunately, nobody in Wrong Place, Wrong Time has Henry Rollins’ talent or charisma.
Timothy McKinney (No Chance, Intruders) gives an effective performance as the creature’s human form. Unfortunately, he’s barely in the film. On the other side, Sage (Franziska Schissler, Soul Hunters) is the least evil of the bunch. But that’s not enough to make her anyone we really care about.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time is Price’s best film, but that’s not to say that it’s a good film. There are some gory deaths, most of which are pulled off nicely. The creature outfit, while obviously a latex suit, is better than what we get in most films like this.
However, the lack of anyone to really care about makes it hard to really get into Wrong Place, Wrong Time. A script that’s too heavy on bad dialogue and worse decisions doesn’t help either. A few gaffes like none of the parked cars or buildings taking a bullet during the opening firefight or a character going out in dense fog but when they look a few feet away it’s clear are just the icing on the cake.
If you’re desperate for something new to watch Wrong Place, Wrong Time might do. There’s a bit of action and a bit of gore to keep viewers awake. And unlike a lot of what has been turning up lately, it’s at least good from a technical standpoint. If he could find a good writer, Price could probably make a fairly good film. However, you’re better off waiting until this one turns up on a service like Tubi.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time premieres On Demand and DVD May 4th from Uncork’d Entertainment. You can check their Facebook page or Justin Price’s for more details.