Review of One False Move, directed by Carl Franklin

Up until recently, I had a MUBI subscription. I was keeping it around until I lost the $7/month special, as I have way too many subscriptions and need to watch my budget, especially considering I have two international moves coming up.

So until this point, MUBI was on my rotation for movie roulette. This is my version of Russian roulette, as I end up getting bored way too often when I have no work to do, which means that I go onto a random subscription I have, close my eyes, and then press arrows or scroll until I land on something.

Whatever I end up landing on is what I have to watch. I had never heard of A False Move before this, but because I landed on it, I had to watch the movie. That’s the rules of the game, and I try not to break them.

Let’s get into the review!

As three criminals commit a string of murder, the police have to track them down before it’s too late.

In this story, we pivot back and forth between the culprits and those supposed to enact justice. We have three criminals to focus on: Ray, Pluto, and Fantasia, who got roped into this by dating Ray. They are active in Los Angeles, and one night they decide to kill six people in an awful way in search of more money and cocaine.

After doing this, they skip town for Houston to sell off the coke they got from the victims. The LAPD catch wind of the crime pretty quickly, and Detectives Cole and McFeely are assigned to this specific case.

They start with the leads they have, and then they learn the next location of the three: Arkansas. The LAPD reaches out to the local police chief there, Dale Dixon. Dixon is very excited about this case and what could come from it, as he thinks this is the opportunity to prove himself as a cop.

McFeely and Cole head off to Arkansas, where they meet up with Dixon. They think he’s a joke, but pretend otherwise to his face.

Meanwhile, with the killers, they stop at a convenience store. When a cop pulls them over and tries to arrest the men, Fantasia kills him when he asks her to get out of the car, too. This guy’s murder makes its way back to Arkansas, leading to our detectives discovering that these two are in town.

They also now have photos of Ray and Fantasia from the convenience store, making this a cat and mouse game even more. Dixon knows her apparently, and he tells them her real name is Lila and she’s from this city. She was from a troubled background but left for LA to pursue acting.

His knowledge is a little suspicious to the detectives, but they ignore this for now. They go to Fantasia’s home to question her family, and they find out she had a son who’s a young boy. This makes them have a hunch she’ll be back to see her kid.

The killer trio arrives in Houston to sell the drugs. Fantasia gets on a bus to Arkansas as Ray and Pluto kill their potential buyers in rage after they go back on the price. They, too, set out for Arkansas. Fantasia arrives and hides out, where Dixon meets her. Turns out that kid is theirs.

Dixon strikes a deal: she will lure Ray and Pluto into police custody, then Dixon will help her get out. Dixon confronts the two when they arrive in town, but Fantasia distracts him, allowing Pluto to stab him in the gut. However, Dixon shoots Pluto while going down.

Ray and Dixon have a shootout, but Fantasia begs Dixon not to kill Ray. Ray then shoots her in the head, and Dixon kills him. Pluto then dies in the grass, and Dixon calls for help. The detectives arrive, shocked at what Dixon could do by himself.

Fantasia’s son comes over and talks to Dixon, and he asks the kid to describe himself.

Overall Thoughts

I don’t think this film was honestly my cup of tea. I found the character I liked the most to be Dixon at times, as he was the one with the most depth.

Fantasia had a lot of potential, but I wanted more from her character arc. I want more fleshed out female characters in the end.

Considering the amount of tension and driving force behind this plot, I found it to be pretty compelling for a directorial debut from the 90s. I’m not mad at it, but, at the same time, I wanted so much more.

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