One False Move (1992)

Carl Franklin's One False Move is very much a product of its time, but now how you'd think. It belongs to a specific set of films: 90's neo-noir thrillers featuring proven character actors, tight scripts, and a deliberate air of homage which served as breakout hits for their respective directors. Think Bound, Red Rock West, Deep Cover; the latter of which is part of the growing voices of black directors who were finding ways to represent themselves in the genre. Franklin is one of those, and what makes his breakout so compelling is how he chooses to highlight the contemporary issues of his time and morph them around traditional noir tropes.

One False Move starts out standard enough, we're thrust into a grizzly murder scene and introduced to our antagonists. A ponytail wearing white sleazeball played by Billy Bob Thornton, a young black woman played by Cynda Williams, and a silent black man who kills with knives played by Michael Beach. Like a lot of 90's neo-noirs the antagonists usually chew the scenery and this film is no exception. Thornton and Beach are constantly on edge and you never get the impression that they'll make the right decision. Williams is more complex, she plays the role of the femme fatale but it's a lot less apparent early on; and her development is handled differently from the usual tropes. Of course, a bad posse needs a good foil. That's where our leading man Bill Paxton comes in.

Paxton plays a country yokel who's sheriff of a small town in Arkansas. He's put to the task of catching the trio by some L.A. cops and he's out to prove he can do his duty. But don't let him fool you, Paxton is the biggest trick the film plays. Instead of exaggerating the genre's tropes like a lot of his contemporaries, Franklin's smaller scale story allows for the humanity of the characters to shine through. This is helped in part by Franklin's deliberate choice of races when it comes to his cast which say more about the issues he's addressing than the actual dialogue. The fact that Franklin lets a lot of the film's events be scattered with racial undertones allows us to reflect back on the film with a different lens and be more understanding.

One False Move may end a bit faster than it feels like it should, and it does underwhelm on a more technical aspect; but that doesn't make it a less thoughtful watch. Packed into this film is a story about race relations and poverty and what happens when it blows up. It's a natural, small-scale thriller that hits harder because it focuses on the crime of the common person despite its penchant for blood. And in Franklin's world, the expected double-cross doesn't just happen between the characters; it happens between the audience and the writers. Like a deep injustice hiding behind a sweet Southern smile.