Fraught father and son reunion

Roger Ebert once said that no good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough. But it’s also something of a self-fulfilling rule. When does the otherwise good movie tip the scales and overstay its welcome?

Certainly not in the case of Hammer, which runs a brisk 82 minutes from stem to stern. We open on Chris (Mark O’Brien), traversing a lonely U.S.-Canada border crossing. Shortly thereafter, he meets old buddy Adams (Ben Cotton), and we realize Chris is involved in smuggling drugs.

What happens next? Let’s just say that people don’t use the phrase “drug deal that went right” very often. Chris and Adams are parted from their contraband payments and each other, shots are fired, and Adams’ girlfriend (Dayle McLeod), winds up injured. Chris hightails away on a motorcycle.

Three people, drugs, money and a firearm are more than enough pieces to construct a decent story of double-crossing and deception, but writer/ director Christian Sparkes (who dedicates the film to his dad), adds one more compelling item — Chris’s dad, played by veteran character actor Will Patton.

Sparkes, who hails from Newfoundland and Labrador, shot Hammer in Sault Ste. Marie

with a Pan-Canadian cast — Patton is the odd man out here — and their accents give this film a very homegrown feel. It also feels very homey — in addition to the thriller aspects, there’s an undercurrent of family tension, with discussions about an older relative recently committed to long-term care, and Chris’s own troubled past, which led to a rupture from which the rest of the family clearly never recovered.

The script doesn’t overplay these elements. They’re just there, reminding us that every family has baggage. It’s just that in this case it happens to include two satchels stuffed full of cash. I’d say more, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome either.