“Blood for Dust” is a moody but tense noir film which follows the descent of one ordinary salesman who lets himself driven more into crime and corruption by his growing despair and frustration. While this is not a pleasant sight at all, the movie keeps holding our attention to the end, and the result is one of more interesting crime drama films of this year.

The early part of the film slowly and dryly establishes how things have been gloomy and frustrating for its salesman hero during last several months of the early 1990s. Since a certain shocking incident involved with one of his close colleagues occurred some time ago, Cliff (Scoot McNairy) has tried to move on for supporting his dear family as before, but it has been more difficult for him to make ends meet during last several months, and now he is almost reaching to the rock bottom after suddenly getting fired due to that incident in the past. Because his family really needs money at present, he naturally tries to get employed again and again, but, to his despair and frustration, nobody is particularly willing to hire him at present because of that incident.

And then, of course, there comes a tempting offer from another old colleague of his in the past. In contrast to Cliff, Ricky (Kit Harrington) seems to be doing quite well even though he was deeply involved with that incident just like Cliff, and we are not so surprised when it is later revealed that Ricky has earned a lot of money via his ongoing association with some dangerous criminals out there. As a guy who worked as a traveling salesman just like Cliff, Ricky surely knows how to make himself look not so suspicious to many others including police officers, and he has used that skill for delivering drug or firearm for those criminal associates of his.

Now Ricky wants Cliff to join his little criminal business, and Cliff is understandably reluctant at first, but he eventually agrees to assist his old colleague as reminded more that there will not be another chance of employment for him for a while. When he is later introduced to Ricky’s several criminal associates, he surely comes to see that these criminals are definitely not people he can mess with, and he becomes all the nervous when he is subsequently instructed to do a certain delivery job along with a menacing henchman who may kill him instantly if that seems necessary.

Now some of you will have a pretty good idea on where the screenplay by David Ebeltoft is heading, but the movie takes its time in building up mood and tension around its story and characters. As he becomes more conflicted about his gradual descent into crime, we get to know a little more about Cliff, and the movie provides a bit of warmth when he drops by a house belonging to the widow of that unfortunate colleague of his, who was once very close to him not long before that incident.

Meanwhile, not so surprisingly, it turns out that Ricky has some other plan behind his back, and this makes Cliff’s situation all the more desperate than before. Now having no one to depend on except himself, he must be more active than merely functioning as a carrier, and he surely comes to face more of his dark sides when he must survive by any means necessary.

Even at that narrative point, the movie firmly sticks to its dryly stark atmosphere while heading toward a moment of inevitability along with its plain ordinary hero, and director Ron Blackhurst and his crew members including cinematographer Justic Derry and editor Justin Oakley did a commendable job of filling their movie with some striking visual qualities. While many of its nocturnal scenes are drenched by the barren darkness accentuated by their cold orange lighting scheme, the movie is also decorated well with enough amount of period atmosphere and details to be appreciated, and the ambient score by Nick Bohun frequently keeps us on the edge during several key moments in the film.

The movie depends a lot on the lead performance by Scoot McNairy, who has been quite ubiquitous since his breakthrough turn in Gareth Edwards’s little SF movie “Monsters” (2010). Flawlessly embodying his character’s jaded weariness and desperation, McNairy also skillfully conveys to us his character’s inner corruption along the story without any unnecessary exaggeration, and it is often bitter to observe how his character tries to believe that he is still a good person despite his irreversible change along the story.

Around McNairy, a number of interesting performers come and go as required. While Josh Lucas, Stephen Dorff, and Ethan Suplee are effectively threatening in their respective supporting roles, Nora Zehetner quietly shines during her substantial scene with McNairy in the middle of the story, and Kit Harrington is unexpectedly effective as looking and feeling quite different from when he appeared as a decent lad of honor and integrity in HBO TV drama series “Game of Thrones”.

On the whole, “Blood for Dust” is typical to the core in terms of story and characters, but it distinguishes itself to some degree at least thanks to its solid mood, storytelling, and performance. While it may require some patience from you due to its rather slow narrative pacing, it will engage and then satisfy you more than expected in the end, and it is certainly recommendable to anyone who can appreciate a good noir flick.