Synopsis
The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.
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Cast
- Sam RockwellJohn Moon
- William H. MacyPitt
- Jeffrey WrightSimon
- Kelly ReillyMoira
- Ted LevineCecile
- Jason IsaacsWaylon
- Joe AndersonObadiah
- Ophelia LovibondAbbie
- Amy SloanCarla
- W. Earl BrownPuffy
Recommendations
- 83
IndieWire
The suspense comes and goes, but A Single Shot always maintains a firm grip on its sad, deteriorating environment. - 80
Village Voice
David M. Rosenthal's sturdy, nasty rural noir, based on Matthew F. Jones's novel, is so sharp and rusted through that, after taking it in, you'll likely need a tetanus shot. - 80
Los Angeles Times
The film charts no new territory but is terrifically cast and, like its source novel, long on atmosphere. - 75
Slant Magazine
Content to faithfully hew to convention, A Single Shot rarely surprises, but its portrait of foolishness and fallibility, and its atmosphere of inevitable doom, remain sturdy and captivating. - 70
The Dissolve
Its ongoing reveal of interconnected, rough-edged characters, as well as a tone that’s a twangy, noirish brew of the Coen brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, and Winter’s Bone, are ultimately what make the movie unsettling and absorbing. - 70
Arizona Republic
A Single Shot never rises to the level of a great film like “Winter’s Bone,” which digs much deeper in its depiction of life in the hills among the desperate poor. But thanks largely to Rockwell, it’s not bad, either. - 60
Time Out
Rockwell’s performance is impressively flinty, as is the rest of the cast (including William H. Macy delivering some twitchy character work), and the dialogue sparkles with brilliantly colorful mountain-man slang. Despite its byzantine narrative, the film remains never less than absorbing, as the walls slowly close in on this good-hearted but ultimately flawed protagonist. - 42
The A.V. Club
It’s largely just an opportunity for the actors to try on Ozark-y mannerisms, swig moonshine, and hock loogies. And like most exercises in authenticity, it couldn’t be more inauthentic if it tried.
