There's a wealth of information presented during the opening title cards of Violent Ends that fills us in on the crime family dynamic that unspools over the following 111 minutes.

 

A family business that have split their operations between the drug trades of cocaine and meth, the Frosts expanded their fortune in 1980s rural America when the worst farming crisis since the great depression crippled the local communities.

 

At their height, the Frosts were considered one of the most powerful crime organisations in the South, until a civil war started over who would control the emerging meth market.  The business is now in the hands of the three Frost brothers, Ray (Matt Riedy), Donny (Bruce McKinnon) and Walt (Ray McKinnon); the former taking the cocaine trade, the latter meth. One family. Two sides.

 

It's all quite melodramatic, but writer/director John-Michael Powell knows that in order for this to feel like more than a copy of a familiar beat-driven narrative, he has to elevate proceedings with a seriousness that makes so much of this grim world feel organic and lived in.

 

Billy Magnussen, who has seldom been better, stars as Lucas Frost, one of the offspring of the crime dynasty that wants to live a life away from inherited brutality.  His relationship with Emma (Alexandra Shipp, truly the heart of the film) is his way out, but he's inevitably brought back into the fold through an act of unforeseen tragedy.

 

The film occasionally runs the risk of being too front-loaded with Frost family members and their various offshoots, but once Violent Ends thins out enough of the herd and focuses on the growing war between Lucas and his more cold-hearted cousin, Sid (an excellent James Badge Dale), it's an admittedly a supremely investing, at-times unnerving dramatic thriller that revels in its dense mentality.

 

With such a title, it makes sense that violence is a necessary ingredient throughout, and whilst not consistent, it's a certain excessive force when implemented.  Powell manages to make the film feel separate from the usual genre fare, favouring grounded, brutal action over flashy choreography; it's truly a visceral experience.

 

Carried by a captivating Magnussen, Violent Ends takes the familiar and laces it with a darkness that feels daring in how it honours the seriousness of its material.