The Hard Place is a hamfisted crime drama where an ex-con trying to go straight gets roped into being an unwilling wheelman to a pair of dopes who’ve kidnapped a Russian gangster’s daughter after a botched bank robbery.
Doug Wagner’s story is way too contrived. Our guy just happens to be at the bank when it’s being held up, he just happens to be recognised by the robbers who just happen to know who he is, they just happen to need a getaway driver (seriously, who plans a heist without an exit strategy?!), the hostage just happens to be a Russian gangster’s daughter, who just happens to be acquainted with our guy. On and on the coincidences rack up before Wagner gives up and starts writing schlock like the main character getting shot in the head at point blank range, SURVIVING, and just needing some minor stitches!!
Our guy is the clichéd ex-con-going-straight archetype while the robbers and the gangster’s daughter are less characters than they are plot devices. The Russian gangster wasn’t nearly as ruthless enough – I’ve never heard of anyone in thrall to that mob getting to walk away unscathed, especially given what our guy did – and the plot plays out predictably. I mean, if the main character can walk off a headshot and get back into the game immediately, nothing’s gonna stop him!
Nic Rummel’s blocky art is ugly as hell. There are repetitive flashbacks to our dumbass main character doing a dangerous jump in a car that was completely pointless – guess if he makes the jump he couldn’t make before at the end? And to what purpose anyway – he does a dumb jump in his car, so what?!
I guess it’s readable and coherent – it’s not an incompetent comic – but The Hard Place is just plain bad and too stupid to take remotely seriously.
