Banshee (2006): A Movie Review

Banshee is a crime drama starring Tayrn Manning as Sage, a professional car thief who has stolen the wrong car. Sage makes a bet with her friend Tony and steals one more car for the night, a '66 Classic Charger. Sage doesn't notice that she dropped her driver's license at the crime scene but the owner of the Charger, a deranged serial killer notices and now has set his sights on Sage and her friends. Now Sage is on the run from a serial killer, two cops, and her fellow criminals. Warning: my movie review contains plot spoilers.

Banshee is a fast-paced drama that kept my full attention the entire length of the movie. With several great car chases and a couple great fight scenes, the movie is a step above a typical low budget film. Tayrn Manning was excellent as the ass-kicking Sage that doesn't put up with much crap stemming from an abusive childhood. She survives city life by stealing cars for the local chop shop and other petty criminal acts. Unfortunately for Sage she stills the wrong car and gets a potential boyfriend killed and her best-friend tortured by a serial killer.

Christian Campbell plays Larch, the serial killer, who D.J.'s in his spare time. He likes to spin his victim's cry into his CD's and his music is very popular at the local dance scene. Christian Campbell was excellent with his dual role of being creepy one second and charming the next. Larch doesn't have much dialogue but he conveys plenty with his stares.

I really enjoyed the movie but did have several problems with the plot. Obviously Larch has been killing for a long time since his 8^th floor apartment is full of dead bodies. First off, why didn't anyone complain about the smell? And are the cops in whatever the city this movie is based in so terrible that they didn't investigate all the missing person cases that they must have been flooded with? Yes the cops are that terrible because they rely on a fugitive, Sage, for clues. Sage hides out at a rooky cop's house because he finds her hot. He makes a crappy attempt at trying to get her to turn herself in but once he sees her in her panties, he is perfectly happy letting her stay at his place. Besides a couple annoying plot holes, I did enjoy movie.

Banshee is a great crime drama. I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars.