Review: Brooklyn is under attack in empty action spectacle ‘Bushwick’

The urban action movie “Bushwick,� filmed to look mostly like one long take, is 90 minutes of real time that feels like five minutes of story and eighty-five minutes of “Why am I following these people and their every walking/running step?�

When college student Lucy (Brittany Snow), on her way home to the titular Brooklyn neighborhood, emerges from the Church Street subway station, she encounters a full-on street war complete with helicopters, explosions and black-clad paramilitary figures shooting civilians. Escaping certain death, she stumbles into the home of janitor and ex-Marine Stupe (Dave Bautista), who reluctantly takes her along as they search for family and seek answers about this mysterious hostile takeover.

Realistically depicting full-scale domestic terrorism is one thing, but directors Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott seem unaware of how their long-take gimmick — the cuts are easily determined — destroys logic, emboldens the use of stereotypes, and kills suspense.

Bautista’s gruff, stolid character has a certain rugged authenticity, but it’s a head-scratcher in this day and age that a movie about what turns out to be a race war invasion on a multi-ethnic enclave is told through the eyes of a white protagonist. The end of civilization has been yawn-worthy for a while now in expensive blockbusters, so it’s dispiriting when plucky indie filmmakers with digital toys want their shot at empty spectacle, too.

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‘Bushwick’

Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

Not rated

Playing: Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica; AMC Dine-In Sunset 5, West Hollywood

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