Crisis

The title refers to the opioid epidemic, but Crisis suffers from a frustrating lack of depth into a topical issue.

A well-intentioned expose compromised by melodramatic storytelling, this multilayered thriller is mildly provocative without providing much meaningful insight into rampant corruption and greed in the pharmaceutical industry.

Boasting a top-notch ensemble cast, the film might get your blood boiling, even if the screenplay by director Nicholas Jarecki (Arbitrage) feels more familiar than fresh.

The story weaves together three overlapping segments. Tyrone (Gary Oldman) is a biology professor whose research has yielded a breakthrough into painkillers and addiction, although his findings run counter to those of a major university corporate donor, drawing the ire of a dean (Greg Kinnear).

Then there’s Jake (Armie Hammer), an undercover DEA agent using shady tactics to investigate and apprehend opioid smugglers working along the Canadian border, constantly butting heads with his supervisor (Michelle Rodriguez). “We’re just here to clean up? I don’t accept that,” Jake contends. Meanwhile, his younger sister (Lily-Rose Depp) is a recovering addict perpetually on the verge of relapsing.

Jake’s network of informants and dealers leads him to Claire (Evangeline Lilly), an architect and former user whose teenage son turns up dead from a likely overdose. Desperate to uncover the details, and avenge some possible foul play, Claire risks everything to find closure.

Crisis charts a white-collar maze of corporate coverups, institutional complicity, and bureaucratic red tape among those who preach eradication of the troubling opioid-abuse cycle. However, they really are content to marginalize the victims and their families — along with, in this case, anyone who dares to challenge the system.

The film’s skillfully intertwined structure enables it to generate a sense of narrative urgency, although its moments of genuine potency are scattered.

On a more intimate level, it’s difficult to sympathize with this suspicious collection of schemers and scoundrels, in which everyone involved seems to have some sort of ethical complications or ulterior motives. While intentional, that’s a hurdle the film struggles to overcome.

Neither coherent nor edgy enough to maximize its impact, the uneven film tends to maintain an emotional distance as chilly as its wintry setting.

Rated R, 118 minutes.