The film starts in the middle of the story, where one man (Peter Marshall) is beating another to find some information. Pretty soon, we discover Christian is in search of some answers about the death of his daughter; he thinks she fell into the wrong crowd and they got her mixed up in drugs and other seedy behaviors. He believes she has been soiled by these men so goes after them one by one, torturing them for information as well as hurting them for hurting his daughter.
Christian’s search takes him around the country and he picks up a runaway, Alice (Caroline Marohasy), who claims she is just hitch-hiking to visit a friend. He gives her a ride, perhaps seeing a vulnerability in her that he instinctively wants to protect as it coincides with his current grief. Neither gives the other much detail of who they really are and where they come from and for most of the film Alice is oblivious to what Christian has been doing.
Circumstances separate them and bring them together again, until the people Christian is hunting down come after him.
I liked the relationship between the two leads, the film never portrayed any of the seediness or danger you would expect of a young girl taking a ride with an older man/stranger. Their relationship is both one of protection as well as one of maturity, as Christian for the most part respects Alice’s boundaries and doesn't push her to reveal her inner thoughts nor pressure her to “do the right thing" despite probably wanting to have had done that with his own daughter.
Christian’s torturing of the various men is through the box of tools he happens to have for his job, so it is at times improvisational but also like the film is trying to push buttons and make each encounter more vicious than the last. I was never sure if this dark side was always within Christian or if his grief and anger brought it out in him. Also, as he met more of the men, he discovers how much involvement his daughter really had in her own downfall and how much of the choice was hers, which probably adds to his grief, confusion and anger, and perhaps guilt at his failing as a father. Each of the men involved were different enough—married men, seedy guys, outright criminals, men out to make a buck—that you couldn't make an assumption of the people the daughter involved herself with.
One thing that could have used a bit of rewrite is how accepting Alice is of the discovery of what Christian has done. She needed to portray more fear at the start, even if he had befriended her, as the revelation seems too scary for her to take it all in so easily. Another is more of the relationship between Christian and his daughter; something in her life went awry to lead her down this path, but flashbacks only involve her as a little girl, which doesn't explain much to the audience.
The film really centers on the performance of the lead, Peter Marshall, and he does a really good job with the duality of his character. It looks like this is his first lead role in a film (although he's been acting a while), as well as for newcomer Marohasy, and they have a good chemistry together. The title can also have a dual meaning, as a Horseman of the Apocalypse (Death in particular) type personification, as well as a white knight coming to save the day.
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