Arkansas is the upcoming crime drama/thriller from debut director Clark Duke, who’s better known as an actor following roles in Hot Tub Time Machine and Kick-Ass 2 amongst others. He’s also co-written the script alongside Andrew Boonkrong, and if that’s not enough he’s also co-starring alongside Liam Hemsworth.
Based on the 2008 novel of the same by John Brandon, Arkansas follows two inept criminals, Kyle (Hemsworth) and Swin (Duke), who work as drug couriers for a mysterious local drug kingpin known as Frog (Vince Vaughn) – a job they may not survive after they end up in Frog’s crosshairs following a series of poor choices that leads him to believe they’re a threat to his business.
It also stars John Malkovich, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Kenneth Williams, Eden Brolin, and Chandler Duke.
The official plot synopsis is as follows:
In Clark Duke’s directorial debut, Kyle (Liam Hemsworth) and Swin (Clark Duke) live by the orders of an Arkansas-based drug kingpin named Frog (Vince Vaughn), whom they’ve never met. Posing as junior park rangers by day, they operate as low-level drug couriers by night under the watchful eye of Frog’s proxies (John Malkovich and Vivica A. Fox). Swin then settles into his day job by taking up a relationship with Johnna (Eden Brolin) against orders to blend in while Kyle continues to question his night job by trying to figure out who Frog really is.
Their world is then upended after one too many inept decisions, and Kyle, Swin, and Johanna find themselves directly in Frog’s crosshairs, who mistakenly sees them as a threat to his empire. Based on John Brandon’s best-selling book of the same name, Arkansas weaves together three decades of Deep South drug trafficking to explore the cycle of violence that turns young men into criminals, and old men into legends.
Let’s take a look:
I love a good quirky crime caper, and Arkansas definitely looks like one of those. I also really like how the tone changes midway through the trailer – to start it’s all fun and games, but then reality comes a knockin’ and it becomes far more sinister and real.
What do you think?
Arkansas is due for release in US theatres (presuming some of those will still open), and via Apple, Amazon, and VOD, on 1 May.
Last Updated: March 16, 2020
