I’ve always been a fan of Aaron Eckhart, but he’s an actor who rarely gets the kind of roles that does his talent justice. He gets one in the new film “Rumble Through the Dark”, a grimy rural thriller set in the Mississippi Delta that lets the 55-year-old Eckhart show his commitment and range both physically and dramatically. And while he doesn’t disappoint, the movie itself has a tough time matching its rather grand ambition.

From co-directors Graham and Parker Phillips and screenwriter Michael Farris Smith, “Rumble Through the Dark” is based on Smith’s own 2018 novel, “The Fighter”. It follows a broken down and tortured man fighting demons from his past while trying to preserve the few good memories he has left. It’s a sad and often bleak story, but it’s not without hope. The problem is its hope relies on a second-half convenience (or a twist of fate if you want to be nice) that’s pretty tough to swallow.

Eckhart plays Jack Boucher, a former bare-knuckle cage fighter who has fallen on hard times. He’s deep in debt with a dangerous local vice queen named Big Momma Sweet (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). He’s also on the verge of losing his dying foster mother’s old antebellum house to foreclosure. To make matters worse his health is rapidly deteriorating due to years of fighting. His body is battered and bruised. He has been steadily losing his memory. And he has crippling headaches that can only be relieved by popping illegal painkillers.

Jack’s backstory is told through a series of hazy flashbacks meant to give the movie some emotional heft. Through them we learn Jack was abandoned when he was an infant but later adopted by a caring woman who supported and encouraged him. There are some pretty big gaps in their story, mainly from his time as a young teen to the current day. We do see that she is in a nursing home suffering from dementia. And at some point during that time Jack got $30,000 behind with the bank.

Without getting into too many details, Jack is eventually faced with a near impossible predicament. If he doesn’t get some money he will lose everything his beloved foster mother entrusted to him. Oh, and he’ll also lose his life to Big Momma Sweet who has given him an ultimatum. But if he goes back to fighting (the only thing he knows) his beat-up body night not be able to take it.

The premise isn’t especially new, but a fiercely committed Eckhart and the rich Deep South setting make it interesting. Where the movie stumbles is in a side story involving a young woman named Annette (played by Bella Thorne). She’s an exotic dancer for a traveling carnival who unfortunately feels too much like a device. The Phillips brothers try developing her into someone compelling, and of course her path is destined to cross with Jack’s. But when they eventually meet, we’re hit with an impossible-to-buy ‘twist’ completely out of left field.

Though well-intended, the Jack and Annette relationship never feels organic and it can’t generate the emotional impact it needs. It tries to go somewhere unexpected, but it’s so out of the blue and you’re left wondering if that screen time could have been better spent. As it is, “Rumble Through the Dark” is a promising but weighted down thriller that gets by mostly on the shoulders of Eckhart. The material may not do him many favors, but he pours himself into his role which makes the story’s shortcomings a bit easier to maneuver. “Rumble Through the Dark” opens in select theaters November 3rd and On Demand and Digital November 10th.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS