Clutch (2025)


REVIEWER RATING: 
8/10

DIRECTOR:

CAST:


Ride share driver, Tonya is having an ordinary night…picking up creeps who would rather get kicked in the balls than accept her rejection, receiving incessant phone calls from her controlling “boyfriend” Marty (another exceptional performance from Michael Pare), and unresolved personal issues weighing on her mind. So, when a flat-toned gunman forces his way into her car at an otherwise confirmed pick-up spot, Tonya’s world is about to become unhinged and undetermined as she struggles how to handle his daunting demands.  

This threatening passenger, Xavier (a remarkable Kaiwi Lyman) is a man of few words, but all direct and foreboding – ‘get me out of town, and you’ll get $60k in cash’. This of course culminates to a much higher price to pay upon Tonya, including being trash-tied, watching her new and literal “partner-in-crime” take several lives along the way, and driving in fear with unsurmountable tension rising as the journey begins.    

Now would be the best time to introduce several additional characters who go above and beyond to capture Xavier and the stolen bag of cash he nabbed from his mobster boss, Fuentes, in a Robin Hood portrayal of an average do-gooder, trying to change his own family dynamics.    

Fuentes (the incorrigible Vernon Wells) is eerily alluring as the resembling hoarsely throated Jack Palance (I’m convinced they are related!) with an icky foot fetish to boot. I know, another pun which I intentionally added there…deal with it.    

As the crime kingpin in this tale, Fuentes sends out several crews of enforcers to bring Xavier back alive. Of course, it was exciting to see Mike Ferguson’s Tartalo, (a strong-armed bad ass), taking on a comic relief role, who is dispatched by the boss to perform some damaging deeds in the name of loyalty.    

While we are catapulted into a pathway of destructive behavior and sacrifice, Xavier and Tonya bond over the commonality of escapism which lights their way through the most harrowing situations including cop corruption, kidnapping and forced brutality. The reward is within their grasp, but the problem becomes…who is going to reach it at the end of the night?  

Thrill seekers, unite! This is a wild adventure that you will want to both ride AND share!

OVERALL: 
Clutch is chock full of smartly scripted writing, stellar performances and powerful connotations of kinship principles. Joining the cat & mouse game alongside the pair of protagonists only solidifies how far you may be driven (yes, another pun), to help a stranger do the wrong thing for the right reason. It’s a suspenseful thriller guided by the wits of two frenzied figures who are ultimately searching for the same thing…serenity. How is Lyman unknown to me? And could someone help me understand the necessity of that dog-clicker device?


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