Watching, Waiting, Ready to Strike

Read Time:4 Minute, 48 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The G
–

Genre: Thriller, Crime
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director(s): Karl R. Hearne
Writer(s): Karl R. Hearne
Cast: Dale Dickey, Romane Denis, Bruce Ramsay, Roc Lafortune, Christian Jadah
Where to Watch: available in select theaters and VOD June 27, 2025

RAVING REVIEW: What begins with clinical paperwork and a knock on the door becomes a story about resilience, control, and the strength buried in those who’ve been overlooked. This thriller isn’t about the flash—it’s about the fight that unfolds when the rules are used against the vulnerable, and how that fight doesn’t always come dressed in action tropes or speeches.

Ann Hunter doesn’t demand your sympathy, and that’s exactly what makes her so compelling. Dale Dickey plays her with a level of focus that feels earned, not from one defining moment, but from a lifetime of being underestimated. She doesn’t flinch when her world is upended. She doesn't melt down when a man arrives with official documents that strip her and her husband of their agency. She observes. She recalibrates. And that’s where the real tension lies.

The antagonist isn’t a traditional movie villain. Bruce Ramsay’s Rivera brings bureaucracy. The terrifying thing about him is how normal he seems. His power doesn’t come from violence, but from authority sealed with a stamp. That realism gives the entire premise weight. Nothing about this scenario feels exaggerated. Instead, something could happen to someone you know—or maybe already has.

Inspired by a real-world experience in director Karl R. Hearne’s family, the film’s foundation is unnervingly plausible. Rather than dressing up the system in theatrics, it’s presented for what it is: a bureaucratic trap that, when abused, can erase a person’s autonomy with barely a sound. This story doesn’t need a high body count or explosive conflict to get under your skin—it leans into the horror of helplessness and the quiet rage of being boxed in.

But its lead keeps the movie from becoming a lecture on law. Ann may have been forced into submission on paper, but emotionally and mentally, she’s still playing chess. Her background isn’t laid out in exposition-heavy scenes, but there are enough clues to suggest she’s not new to surviving systems rigged against her. She doesn’t talk about revenge; that simmering presence carries the film even when the plot drifts.

Romane Denis plays Emma, Ann’s step-granddaughter, and her storyline isn’t a subplot—it’s a mirror. As Emma tries to locate her missing relative, she also starts to rediscover a sense of self-worth dulled by bad relationships and expectations. Her development doesn’t revolve around solving the mystery but reconnecting with the spark she’s let others snuff out. It contrasts with Ann’s controlled defiance, but it works.

There’s a particularly well-handled dynamic between Ann and a fellow resident named Joseph, played by Roc Lafortune. These moments don’t slow the momentum—they help bring it into focus. Their exchanges reveal how much has already been lost, and how much is still worth fighting for.

The film’s strongest sections are its early and middle acts, where everything tightens like a vice. The world feels controlled, sterile, and increasingly suffocating. But once the story begins to resolve itself, the pacing starts to shift. The ending isn’t weak so much as it is orderly. Some late-game developments feel like shortcuts, resolving plot threads too neatly given the build-up. It doesn’t unravel the film, but it does leave a sense that a bolder or more complex resolution was possible.

What makes the film memorable, even with its third-act compromises, is how it sticks to its core question: What does resistance look like when you don’t have the luxury of shouting? It treats its characters respectfully, never turning them into caricatures or symbols. And while it doesn’t chase emotional catharsis, it offers something more grounded—a reminder that dignity can be stolen in small, invisible ways. By the final scene, it’s clear this story was never about a grand gesture. It’s about surviving long enough to make choices again. And when Dale Dickey leads you there, the silence says more than any monologue ever could.

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[photo courtesy of DARK SKY FILMS]

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