Yellowstone's Luke Grimes Starred In This Underrated Crime Thriller With Frank Grillo
"Yellowstone" might be over, but the reign of Taylor Sheridan has only just begun, with several spin-offs from the hugely popular neo-Western in the works. One of those will star Luke Grimes, who's set to reprise his role as Kayce Dutton in the sequel series "Y: Marshals." While he saw moderate success in the years before "Yellowstone," the Paramount series is easily his biggest project to date. Playing the youngest son of Evelyn (Gretchen Mol) and John Dutton (Kevin Costner) provided a huge boost to his career, which is set to continue with his upcoming spin-off. But there's plenty of overlooked, pre-"Yellowstone" Grimes gems waiting to be unearthed, including an underseen 2019 crime thriller that saw the actor star opposite Frank Grillo.
"Into the Ashes" came via writer/director Aaron Harvey, who previously directed Bruce Willis in 2010's "Catch .44" and William Fichtner in 2018's "The Neighbor." With his 2019 action thriller, Harvey delivered an intense tale that starred Luke Grimes as ex-con Nick Brenner, whose shady past catches up with him after he tries to lead a somewhat normal life. Frank Grillo co-stars as a sinister figure from Nick's past who immediately becomes a target after he kills Nick's wife.
The film did get a limited theatrical release in the United States back in July 2019, but it failed to make much of a splash. Now, it stands as one of the most overlooked projects in Grimes' career. That doesn't necessarily make it worthy of being unearthed, but "Into the Ashes" did manage to impress some critics, and is arguably underrated.
Into the Ashes stars Luke Grimes as a vengeful ex-con
After appearing alongside Bradley Cooper in "American Sniper," Luke Grimes received the seal of approval from director Clint Eastwood, who proved instrumental in landing the young actor his "Yellowstone" role. In 2018, Grimes made his debut in Taylor Sheridan's Paramount+ series, becoming an essential part of the "Yellowstone" formula and, incredibly, making it through all five seasons of the show alive, despite Sheridan's well-documented proclivity for killing off major characters without a second's hesitation (that includes star Kevin Costner's John Dutton, whose death was the most controversial moment in an already controversial series).
A year after he made his "Yellowstone" debut, however, Grimes found time to headline "Into the Ashes" in which he played reformed criminal Nick Brenner. In the film, Brenner attempts to leave his criminal past behind when he settles down in a small Alabama town with his wife, Tara Brenner (Marguerite Moreau). Unfortunately, Frank Grillo's Sloan isn't about to let his former associate get away that easily, and shows up to kill Tara, immediately sending Nick into a vengeful rage that sees him tearing through rural Alabama to get to Sloan. Complicating matters is local sheriff Frank Parson (Robert Taylor), who also happens to be Tara's father. As such, the lawman is thrown into his own dilemma wherein he's forced to choose between his commitment to the law and his own desire to see his daughter's death avenged.
If that sounds like a decent crime thriller with a hint of the neo-Western Sheridan sauce that has proved so popular in recent years, that's pretty much what you're getting with "Into the Ashes." However, the critical response wasn't all that positive, so be wary before you seek out this underseen Grimes/Grillo collab.
Critics didn't love Into the Ashes but it's worth a watch
The title, artwork, and trailer for "Into the Ashes" all scream "direct-to-video" and very much give the impression that this could have starred Aaron Harvey's former colleague Bruce Willis in one of his late-career B-thrillers. But "Into the Ashes" actually elicited some praise from critics — though its overall Rotten Tomatoes score isn't exactly a triumph. In his Chicago Sun-Times review, Richard Roeper dubbed it a "stylish and violent modern-day Western noir," surmising that "while not all the pieces of the puzzle perfectly fit into place, it's still a good yarn filled with arresting visuals and solid performances."
Sadly, Roeper's review is the only positive one among six from "top critics" on RT. The others leave a lot to be desired, with Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times praising Harvey for "evoking the violent, character-driven crime pictures of the 1970s" but criticizing him for failing to make "Into the Ashes" feel "original enough to be vital." What's more, despite some attempts to interrogate the morality of its characters, "Into the Ashes" failed to impress Jake Cole of Slant Magazine, who wrote that Aaron Harvey is "prone to pulling back from any moment that might give greater depth to his revenge tale."
That said, this is definitely one of those movies likely to show up randomly in Netflix's top 10 charts, and if you're looking for some easy crime thriller action, it's definitely worth a look — especially ahead of the "Y: Marshals" premiere. Seeing Frank Grillo play such a devil of a villain is also quite a nice accompaniment to his recent work on "Peacemaker" season 2, which transformed his Rick Flag from a hero to a villain.