Adam (Luke Evans) rents a room from a friend, Mike (Rory Culkin) Leiff (Alex Pettyfer) Donna (Stephanie Leonidas) Jimmy (Rudy Pankow) Aliyah (Laura Hopper) Santiago (Charlie Rawes) writer/director Phil Alococo, Lionsgate, a father-son story, a Redemption story, drug dealers, inner-city New York, AA Meetings,13 years & paroled, enemies looking for revenge for what he did to their brother, gangsters, brutal & bloody violence,  Mirror Bar, 3 interconnected storylines, 

5lbs of Pressure refers to what happens when you pull the trigger on a handgun or pistol. That’s the basic premise of this film, the subtext of the plot, and the three storylines of the movie.  This film is filled with decisions and background information that gives viewers a lot of anxiety while watching it. It’s that kind of a pressure cooker of a story.

Adam (Luke Evans) is a man who recently gets off of parole and goes to an old friend to rent a room from him in the Hills kitchen area of New York City.  Another side to the film is Mike (Rory Culkin), a bagman for a low-level drug dealer Leff (Alex Pettyfer). He does basic jobs for this man but gets involved with a friend. The friend Johnny (Mark Griffin) is a little upset at the Evans character because he killed his brother years before, which is the reason he was put in prison. 

This film has a lot of moving parts to it, and one of those things is the fact that before the Evans character went off to prison, he got his girlfriend at the time pregnant. He comes back and finds that his son Jimmy (Rudy Pankow) doesn’t even know him. His mother never told him about his father, except he left. This is the main subplot of the film, and I was invested in this.

These types of films with connecting stories are usually pretty good. The other thing is the fact that the story takes place in this small neighborhood where there is a lot of contact with other people. This is a small town, and people know each other. They live, shop, and work together, so these characters are tied together more than most people would think. Yes, this has been done better before, but this was still done pretty well. 

The writer/director of this film Phil Allocco gives Evans character a redemption arc in this film. The whole father son dynamic, working a steady job which shows he wants to be a productive member of society and AA meetings and so forth, were some great character stuff for the Evans character. He is a well-rounded actor, and he shows that in this role.

5lbs of Pressure has a great interconnected story with good performances from the entire ensemble, but the performance from Evans is a nice departure for him. He has been doing some musical and comedy work lately, but here he goes back to his more dramatic work. This story was a fascinating one that had some tragic elements, and those were hard to witness.  The film as a whole, though, was better than I anticipated, and for that reason, I’m going to say people should definitely see it.

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen