Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: Dan Gilroy
Writer: James Morgan
Prequel to Cosa Nostra
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Robert De Niro, Shia LaBeouf, Robert Pattinson, Keith Carradine, Michael Rooker, Marisa Tomei, Rene Russo, Emily Ratajkowski, Sam Rockwell
Plot: It's a rainy night in the city, people run fast with old newspaper covering their heads. It seems like nothing unusual is happening, a normal night in a city usually devoured by crime. A couple of police officers are sitting in their car, listening to the radio, in case something pops up. They are anxious, eveything seems normal, too normal, they can sense something will do down too... and they are right. A group of masked men are standing in the back of a van with baseball bats and guns, looking to score some money in a neighborhood that hasn’t been claimed by the organized crime yet. The van passes in front of the police car just as they respond to another call, heading in another direction. The van stops and the thugs get out and they split, the ones with the guns enter a bank to rob ATMs, while the others cross the street to rob an old school diner. They notice that the street is in complete silence, if not for the raven cawing on top of a street lamp. Inside said diner, Dan Roberts (Alden Ehrenreich) is openly flirting with the waitress, Emma (Emily Ratajkowski) . He's her only client, so they small talk to pass the time. The thugs break in and start to push Emma around. Dan tells them to stop, but they don’t take him seriously. He asks them one more time, but still they refuse to listen. Dan grabs his fork and he plants it in the guy's eye. He starts screaming in pain and his companion starts to fight with Dan. Dan grabs a stool and breaks it over the guy’s head. The fight continues over the counter, in the kitchen. Dan grabs a steak knife to fight. The man with a fork in his eye comes in running and Dan ducks him and he ends up hitting the wall. Dan slits the other’s throat with the knife. He grabs the only guy remaining and he throws him in the trash compactor before turning it on. Emma watches in horror as the guys from across the streets are now in the diner after hearing the noise. Dan turns off the lights and steals someone’s gun. He guns down all of them and he leaves the diner. The streets are now calm, with one crow still cawing on top of the street lamp.
After the troubling incident, Emma closes the diner and goes back to her home, constantly watching behind her, in case she was being followed. She enters her shady apartment complex, not the type of apartment that the rich folks are fighting over. It’s cheap and it has basic furniture, but nothing to be really proud of. She flips the switch to turn on the light, but it doesn’t. She sighs and she turns on a small lamp. She lets go a little scream when she notices that her father Vince (Michael Rooker) is there. He looks at her with a look a father should never give his own daughter. He notices a splash of blood on her skirt and he asks her what happened. He gets up and walks close to her, before grabbing her by the hips, standing way too close to her. She makes up a dumb excuse and wiggles to break free from her father’s hold, but he doesn’t believe her. He hits her for lying to her father and he puts his coat on, he’ll go back there and take care of the son of a b who did this to her, he’s the only one who can have her. He doesn’t get far and falls on the ground right in the middle of the living room. Emma notices a syringe in his left arm and he reeks of alcohol. She removes the syringe and goes to bed, letting him sleep on the floor. She takes off her skirt and she’s covered with bruises on the calves. She glances at her father and at her bruises. He does indeed deserve it.
Dan enters an alley. You can barely see him in the dark of the night with this trademark black suit and black coat. He stops in front of a small neon sign and knocks on the door. Stephen (Keith Carradine), cleaning a glass, opens. He looks around to make sure no one followed Dan and he closes the door. He helps him clean the bloody mess on his shirt while he serves him a whiskey on the rocks. Sam “The Wolf” Taylor (Robert Pattinson) comes out of the washroom and he sits on his stool with a wolf on it. He sips on his drink without acknowledging Dan at all, which is something Stephen reproaches him constantly. Stephen disinfects a wound on Dan’s arm, as Sam looks on, laughing, mocking Dan, the Raven. Dan confronts him about it and reminds him of all the times he had to come and save his ass. The Wolf insults Dan and goes upstairs.
Jake “The Horse” Gardner (Shia LeBeouf) is at a mundane ball organised by Carmine Tomino (Robert De Niro) and his new wife, Natalia (Marisa Tomei). He’s in charge of the security for the event and he takes his job seriously. He watches on from afar, watching every suspicious movements. It was all going so well, but then, Stan Hollyfield (Sam Rockwell), the cocky, prima donna, arrogant and ultra violent new gang leader arrives. He goes on the stage with no bad intentions and he French kisses Natalia. Carmine hits him and a brawl follows. Jake comes down and he tries to separate Carmine and Stan. Stan takes out a knife and he stabs Jake in the belly. He points his knife up in the air and he threatens Carmine, as a bloodied Jake looks on from the floor. He tells Carmine that there’s a new sheriff in town and that he better watch his back, before leaving as quickly as he arrived. Carmine helps Jake to get up, but Gardner refuses his help. He leaves the venue by himself, limping and looking like a mess.
He ends up knocking at at the same bar Dan knocked earlier, but this time a woman named Sue (Rene Russo) opens. She screams and Stephan comes down. He wakes up Dan and together they heal Jake. Jake tells them that Stan Hollyfield did this to him. Sue worries that this new guy is bad news, but Stephan believes that the boys should be able to deal with him. All the noise woke up Sam who listened from a distance. He says that he could handle him alone, he’s not afraid of the cocky s.o.b. That’s enough for Sue. She grabs Stephan by the arm and he she stares at him in the eye. She says that they took care of them three boys ever since they were kids. They took them in the streets and gave them a good life. She may not agree with what they’re doing now, but she still loves them like they were her own blood. She can’t believe that Stephan lets them do it. She saw the blood on Dan’s coat and she can’t endure seeing one of her son getting beaten like that, at least not anymore. She runs upstairs in her bedroom and slams the door. Shaken, Stephan says that his wife can get emotional sometimes, but they are muscle for hire, it’s part of the business. He reminds them of their one simple rule: don’t get personal. As long as they follow this one simple rules, the boys should be alright. As for the Hollyfield incident, they’ll have to remind him that he can’t do anything he wants in this town.
The following day, Dan leaves the bar early and he goes to the diner. What he doesn’t know, is that Sam is following him. Dan enters the diner and Emma is working. He nods at her and she seems to remind everything that happened last night. She sits silently in front of Dan and she asks him to explain what happened last night. He simply responds that he saved her, without adding anything. Emma simply smiles back, like a simple fool who don’t know the killer instinct Dan’s body is housing. She says he’s a man of few words and she likes that about him. Sam looks from outside and he enters. He sits with Dan and Emma leaves them alone. Sam compliments her on her appearance and he confronts Dan about it. He reminds him about their only rule, the only rule of the muscles for hire: don’t get personal and it seems like Dan is breaking their single rule. Dan tells him to fuck off and he leaves to have a chat with Hollyfield. He invites Sam to come along with him, but the Wolf always works alone. He never stuck with his pack, he has always been a lone wolf and he’ll always be.
Sue decides to check on Jake to see if he’s alright, after the injury he suffered last night, but he’s nowhere to be found. She wakes up Stephan who seems disappointed.
Jake “The Horse” is still limping, but he’s back on his feet. He knocks on a door and Stan Hollyfield opens him. He compliments him after he sees that he’s already back on its feet, so quick. The horse lives up to his nickname, he never stops working. Stan looks at Jake’s injury and he apologizes for going deeper than he imagined. Jake says he’ll be alright. They both note that Carmine looked scared. It seems like their plan worked. They both decide on what to do next. They shake hands and Jake leaves.
Shortly after Jake left Stan’s place, Dan arrived and scouted the surroundings. He observes the ins and outs, but unfortunately, he never saw Jake leaving the building. He decides that it’s finally the time to go in, so he breaks a window and he gets in. It alerts a guard, but Dan puts him to sleep. He locates the electrical box and he turns off the power. He works better when it’s dark and lady luck is on his side today, it’s cloudy with no signs of the sun. He walks silently in the house, until he sees Hollyfied. He grabs him by the collar and pins him against the wall. Stan’s men quickly come in and Dan fights them the best he can. The fight ends abruptly when Stan takes out a machine gun from a box and points it at Dan, who puts his hands up in the air. He has a cut on the lips and he’s bleeding from the forehead. He insists that he will leave, but Stan needs to remember that there’s always someone watching him in the dark and that he’ll never be safe. He’s going to kill him someday, and Stan will never see it coming.
Sam waited the better part of the day in the diner and left shortly after Emma. He follows her all the way to her home. She greets her father, Vince, watching the television drunk, as usual. He compliments his daughter on her appearance in an unsavory way. Sam enters the apartment, thinking Emma is all alone, but to his surprise, he sees her father. Vince asks him who he is and Emma, surprised, says he’s just a friend of a guy she likes, smiling at Sam. Vince gets up and he says that only him can be with his baby girl. He launches a right hand at Sam, but he catches it and breaks his wrist. Emma start screaming and Sam kicks her down. He grabs Vince’s empty beer bottle and smashes it on Vince’s head, who’s now bleeding. Emma leaves the apartment in a hurry, as Sam beats up her father. She has mixed feelings about it. She’s relieved that her father will never touch her again, but he remains her father after all. Vince’s final breath comes after Sam slices his throat with a glass shard. Sam gets off Vince and he breathes heavily, only to realise that Emma is gone.
Emma went back to the diner, hiding in the kitchen. She notices Dan entering and she goes to talk to him, upset about what happened. She says Sam killed her father and kicked her down. Dan apologizes profusely and he leaves without adding anything.
Jake is meeting once again with Carmine and Natalia Tomino, still apologizing for what happened the other day with Stan. He says he will do anything for his failure to protect Carmine adequately. Carmine asks him one simple thing: to kill Stan Hollyfield, no matter what. He doesn’t want the man to be around anymore, he’s a threat and he should be killed. Jake accepts, but he says he might need help if he wants to do that. He doesn’t add anything and he leaves.
Dan is already back at the bar, chatting with Stephan when Sam comes in. Sam immediately confronts him about Emma, but Dan denies any wrongdoings. Sam confirms that Emma said Dan is a guy she likes. He broke the rule. Stephan tells Dan to gather his things and to leave, he’s not welcomed here anymore. They can’t afford to have someone emotionally invested in his job around here. Dan says to Sam that he didn’t have to kill Vince, he never threatened him. He claimed a life that didn’t deserve it (although Vince deserved it for his treatment of his daughter). Stephan congratulates Sam for doing his job and Stephan would have done the same. He adds that all Sam was trying to do was to protect Dan. Dan asks for one more chance at redemption. Jake, who just arrived, tells him that he can come and kill Stan Hollyfield with him. Stephan denies, but Dan says he’ll do it anyway and then he will change his mind. He leaves in the middle of the night with only one goal in mind, killing Stan. After Dan leaves, Stephan orders Jake to follow Dan to make sure he really gets the job done this time and Sam to kill Emma, to make sure she isn’t a distraction to him anymore.
Dan always travels by foot, it gives him the time to think and to gather his thoughts. He should have taken the car, however, as Jake arrived at Stan’s place much earlier, giving him plenty of time to warn Stan about Dan’s imminent attack. When Dan gets there, Stan isn’t there anymore, but he left a bunch of men to take care of Dan. However, Dan is in his element. It’s pitch dark in there and he quickly dispatches of them in a violent, brutal fight. He finds a note, written by Stan, mentioning that he was glad he was able to come out on top. He hopes he liked the welcoming committee he left behind, thanks to Jake’s kind advice. Dan understands that Jake has been working with Stan for all this time and that everything that happened with Carmine was just a set-up. When Dan leaves the building, he comes face to face with Carmine, who came to be face to face with Stan Hollyfield. Dan says he missed him and that there’s nobody there. He tells Carmine that Jake was a traitor and that he worked for Stan, all along. Dan asks him if he knows where Stan might be and he mentions a safehouse, not really far away from here. As Dan is leaving, Carmine asks him who he is and Dan answers that he’s someone you wouldn’t want to have on your bad side. Carmine enters the building and sees the blood everywhere. Dan’s right, you don’t want him on your bad side. Dan takes out a card with a raven on it. It has all his information on it, including where to reach him and a number to call him, just in case he would need someone to do his dirty work. He’s Dan “The Raven” Roberts, muscle-for-hire.
Dan is walking in the safehouse’s direction when he passes in front of Emma’s apartment. He decides to pay her a visit, even if it’s the middle of the night. He climbs the emergency exit stairs and stops in front of her window. He sees a trail of blood. He opens the window and hears someone in the kitchen, Sam, cleaning the knives he used to kill Emma, who’s lying in a pool of her own blood. Dan strikes quickly, he grabs disarms Sam and grabs him by the throat. They start a lengthy fight in the apartment. Dan comes out on top and he chokes Sam. He asks him who ordered him to kill Emma and Sam answers Stephan. Before Dan delivers the final blow, Sam asks Dan to talk and explain. Sam, massaging his throat, asks Dan if he remembers his first mission, where everything went wrong.
A couple of years earlier; Dan was doing some recon work at the docks, where he was asked to kill someone on behalf of a street gang. He waited to strike in the middle of the night. He contacted Sam beforehand and, of course, he refused to work with him, living up to his Wolf nickname. Dan planned everything perfectly. He was ready to strike. What he didn’t know was that his enemies were expecting him. He shot the lights, as planned and he ran in the facility, where he expected to kill everyone, but everyone was wearing night googles. They saw him coming and beat him up pretty badly. When Dan woke up, he was back at the bar and was told to Sam completed the assignment.
Dan completes Sam’s sentence. Stephen planned it all along. Sam says he always thought Dan was too selfish and too confident and Stephen thought he needed a humiliating lesson, so everything was a set-up. Stephen isn’t the saint Dan thinks he is, he’s as shady as everyone else. Dan keeps looking at Emma’s corpse, a drip of blood is slowly spreading on the floor. Dan listens to Sam’s plead against Stephen while watching the blood trail. As it gets closer and closer to his foot, he slowly grabs his gun. As soon, as the blood touches him, he shoots the only lamp in the apartment and he jumps on Sam. He brutally kills him and leaves him for dead in the apartment. Dan has a new goal in mind, but first, he needs to do something else.
When Dan arrives Stan’s safehouse, he looks inside from a window and he can clearly see Stan, but Jake is nowhere to be seen. Dan enters the building and he confronts Stan. He says he comes with no bad intentions, he just wants to know where Jake, the man whom he thought was his own brother, is. Stan says he went back to the bar where he always goes back. Stan ordered him to get rid of anything holding him back in this town and that included the bar and everyone associated with it. Dan takes out his pocket knife and makes a cut on Stan’s hand, a scar he’ll have for life. Before he leaves, Dan says he only did this to remind him that the Raven is always watching and that he shouldn’t have bothered him. He reminds him once again that he will kill him someday, but today is not that day.
Jake is in the bar speaking to his adoptive mother, who has a look at his ugly scar on the stomach. Jake is melancholic, which sets off Sue, who doesn’t understand her adoptive son’s peculiar attitude. Suddenly, Jake starts to cry and says to Sue that he’s sorry. He starts to choke her and he kills her, covering her mouth to supress her screams. When he gets down to the bar, he starts to talk with Stephan. He starts to retrospect on his life and he thanks Stephan for everything he did for him. Stephan starts to feel like something bad is going to happen. His boys never talk about their emotions, so it sounds peculiar for him. Stephan gets a hold of his shotgun under the counter. He notices Jake taking out his handgun from his back pocket. He tries to get his shotgun, but Jake shoots at Stephan’s arm, he shoots at him again, aiming for the stomach this time. Stephan falls down behind the counter. He asks Jake why he’s doing this and he says that Stan promised him a better life, a life where he’ll be able to blossom, to develop his own personality, where he’ll be able to live a normal life, something Stephan and Sue were never able to give him, or any of their other sons too. By the time he’s done, Stephan is dead and Jake is alone, enjoying his drink.
Carmine Tomino and Natalia decide to call the Raven, to see if he’s really the guy he says he is, but they get no answer. They get in their car and decide to go to the address.
Dan enters the bar and he sees Jake, sitting at the counter, sipping his drink. He also sees Stephan’s body on the ground. The lights are on and they reflect on Jake’s glass. He tries to take out his pistol, but Dan jumps on him. They start to fight and Jake gets the upper hand. Dan is able to break free and he breaks the lights with Jake’s gun. He takes advantage of the obscurity and he breaks Jake’s thumb. They start to fight in the bar, throwing bottles and pool balls at each other. They throw the stools, too. Dan breaks the final light with a vodka bottle. It gives him the required advantage to get the upper hand against his brother. He moves quickly, grabbing Jake’s gun from the floor at firing with it randomly to get Jake’s attention. He tackles him in the ground and Dan pushes on Jake’s eyes. He punches him repeatedly until he doesn’t see him move anymore. A ray of light enters the bar, Carmine Tomino is standing in the doorway and the neon sign lights a small part of the bar. The Raven finishes Jake by stabbing him with a broken stool. He gets up and sits at the bar, on his raven stool. Carmine tells him that he should call the police on him, but he won’t. Instead, he will take advantage of the situation. He can call him anytime, asking for a favor and he’ll have to do it. Natalia enters and can’t believe what she’s seeing. She begs Carmine to let him alone. Her husband goes behind the counter and steps over Stephan. He serves Dan a whiskey on the rocks and tells him he needs it. He leaves the bar and it’s back to pitch black. The moon lights up the place a bit. Dan lost everything today. He’ll never get personal again, no feelings, it only brings bad news. He sips on his drink as Carmine’s car leave.
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