In this pandemic, I mostly get documentary screeners for reviews, which gets kind of redundant after a while. It’s lucky if I get something different. So I got a rare opportunity to check something out that wasn’t a documentary for once in a while. That was nothing more than the film, First Round Down. What is it about? Well, it’s the story of former hockey player Tim Tucker (Dylan Bruce). He was once a respected player of junior hockey until a critical injury took him out of the sport for good. Seemingly since then, he’s been doing his job of delivering pizza, taking care of his little brother Matt (Percy Hynes White) and spending his spare time with his best friend Bobby (Rob Ramsay) getting into trouble. One night, he makes a particular order to Kelly (Rachel Wilson), an ex-girlfriend of his from long ago. After that, Tim starts to reminisce about the past, looking through old pictures of his deceased parents, and certificates from his days of playing hockey. But he wasn’t always a sporty guy, after his fallout, he started a new living as a tough guy taking out people who couldn’t pay a certain loan shark. Speaking of that past, we are shown on a particular day Tim delivers a pizza to several guys in a motel room and they don’t pay the full price or even have the discount coupon. He ends up getting in a fight with all 3 junkies and beats them all senseless before bolting away in his car. After that big mistake, he learns their boss is Sonny (John Capellos), who is none other than a tough gangster and his former employer, offering new work for him.
Tim however tries to patch things up with Kelly and she has him meet her father (Peter MacNeill) for brunch. Interestingly enough, Kelly’s father has coached Tim in the past. Tim and Kelly’s fiancé Winston (Kristian Bruun) however get into a dispute with each other in a Shrek 2 like fight with each other and during that time, Tim learns that Kelly got impregnanted by Tim which caused her to have an abortion. Things soon get worse for Tim when his car gets stolen during a delivery, and then he decides to quit that job and get back in touch with his old work. His first job back has him capturing none other than Kelly’s father which instantly sends him into drinking heavily.
What it all boils down to is if Tim will follow through to murdering his former coach for the man who treated him like a son. More importantly, do Kelly and Tim work out their differences or does she have to keep living with her antsy fiancé?
It’s a crazy combination of coincidence in the end, but somewhat unlike what I’ve seen before. It’s a well worked out plot, with hilarious characters, even if the majority of them don’t get much screen time. Personally, I’m not too big on hockey myself (or any sports) but this movie has an interesting way of mixing a sport with an elaborate plot. It keeps the viewer engaged on heavily focused much like in a hockey game, and has a good sense of humour. Something definitely worth looking out for. It’s got some real edginess to it.
