Eve's Conditional Deal

Eve's Conditional Deal

Bruce Von Stiers

Mass shootings in the United States happen pretty much daily. As I write this in the middle of September, per Axios, there have already been over five hundred mass shootings this year.

So, with that in mind, and the horror of gun violence permeating the landscape daily, I was somewhat hesitant about reviewing a film that dealt with a mass shooting. But I was surprised by the film.

Condition of Return is the title of the film I just mentioned. It deals somewhat into the aftermath of a mass shooting, but mainly focuses on what led up to it.

The film is sort of a Faustian tale. For those of you unfamiliar with Faust, he was a character in German folklore who sold his soul to the devil for worldly pleasures. In the case of this film, the bargain was made for retribution of wrongs that were done.

Eve Sullivan is a thirty-something woman. She goes to the Catholic church where she is a member. And using an automatic rifle kills and wounds a whole bunch of people. The film shows the shooting unfold. It is violent but there aren't any bloody special effects.

What follows in the film is Eve being evaluated by a psychologist and flashback scenes depicting events that led to the shooting. FBI agent Mike Stafford brings in a colleague, Dr. Donald Thomas, to evaluate Eve. Stafford wants Thomas to quickly determine that Eve is sane and can stand trial. The reason for the sanity determination? Eve has stated that the Devil told her to do it.

The flashback scenes include when Eve and her husband Darren meet. Then later Eve is pregnant and the two of them get married. Eve loses the baby and later catches Darren with her best friend Jessica. Then Eve is charged with a crime she didn't commit.

All while these tragic events are happening, Eve holds strong in her Catholic faith that God will see her through this. And when that doesn't happen, Eve turns in a different direction.

Mixed in amongst Eve's flashbacks are some of Dr. Thomas's. It seems that the good doc has a few issues of his own he's trying to deal with.

Eve is played by Annalynne McCord. Her credits include starring in Titanic 666 and a recurring role in Power Book III: Raising Kanan. James Russo is Mike Stafford. He's starred in such films as Take Back and had a recurring role on Gravesend. Dr. Thomas is played by Dean Cain. An easily recognized name, and face, he has close to two hundred film and television credits, most notable as Clark Kent / Superman on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Darren Sullivan is played by Ryan Bates. Eve's best friend, Jessica, who has an affair with Darren, is played by Cami Storm. She was in an episode of Animal Kingdom and had roles in films such as Titanic 666 and Secrets On Campus.

This film is a mixture of psychological drama and the supernatural. The supernatural aspect of the film is personified in a woman names Liza. Apparently, she is the one you work with when making a deal with the devil. Liza is played by Natasha Henstridge. From the film Species to the series Diggstown, she has almost one hundred film and television credits.

Ryan Deluca plays the priest of Eve's church, Father Kinder. Farrah White plays Faye, Dr. Thomas's wife.

Other actors in the film included Zaina Juliette, Lametira Jackson, Laura Workman, John Redlinger and Larry S. White. There was also Bobby Trovato, Harley Smith, James Ray and Trevor Stovall.

Tommy Stovall directed and edited the film. He was also one of the producers. His previous directing credits include Aaron's Blood, Sedona and Hate Crime. Pasidg Productions was the production company behind the film and is co-owned by Tommy Stovall. Mic Waugh was the Director of Photography. He was the Director of Photography for mini-series The Hillside Strangler and the documentary, The Cleveland Kidnappings. The music was done by Ceiri Torjussen. He composed music for over thirty episodes of Cold Case Files and for films such as The Thing That Keeps You and The Right One.

Annalynne has stated in interviews that initially she didn't want to do the film. She'd played villains for a long time and thought she might be too judgmental of the Eve character. But she took the role with the intention of finding a way to not judge the character and get the audience to understand Eve.

That just might be the thing, though. Can you truly understand the motives of someone who perpetrates a horrendous criminal act? Is causing loss of life appropriate retribution for a series of wrongs done to a person? The film seems to want the audience to feel that way, but then throws us a curve ball. That curve ball is what is meant by the film's title, Condition of Return.

The acting in the film was very good. Annalynne McCord did a fantastic job with her character as both as victim and villain. Dean Cain's character seemed a bit too tame, but maybe was supposed to be? And the other actors in the film did well, especially James Russo as the hard-nosed FBI agent, Ryan Bates as Eve's awful husband and Cami Storm as Eve's backstabbing best friend Jessica.

I think Condition of Return is a great film. I wasn't sure I'd like the film at first, as it dealt with a mass shooting. But the film was a lot more than just about a single act of violence. It delved deep into the loss of one's faith and what could happen when seeking retribution for wrongs that were done. While it could have been done as essentially a psychological drama, adding the supernatural, Faustian elements took the film to a whole new level.

Condition of Return was viewed at several film festivals. It will have its theatrical release on September 22 nd .

To find out more about Condition of Return, visit the film's website at https://conditionofreturn.com/

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