'Hellion' simmers with teen angst

Hellion begins with something of a juke: kids, bats in hand, smashing and torching a pickup truck while heavy metal music thunders in the background.

The scene and film's title suggest an explosive look at teenage fury. Instead, Hellion (* * * stars out of 4, unrated, opens limited Friday) makes a canny about-face to explore rage that doesn't detonate, but simmers.

The results are occasionally profound.Though some characters go underdeveloped, Hellion marks one of Hollywood's most realistic examinations of rural high school angst since Friday Night Lights, another teen drama set in Texas.

Newcomer Josh Wiggins plays Jacob, the kind of 13-year-old you hope never meets your kid. He's at the center of the opening-scene vandalism, which isn't his first brush with a spray-paint can or the law since the death of his mother.

In a refreshing change of roles, Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul plays Hollis, the drunken widower who disappeared on the family for a few weeks after mom's death in a failed attempt to drink himself to death. Hollis is as unfit to be a role model to Jacob as he is ill-equipped to play Father Knows Best to his younger son, Wes, another acting neophyte in Deke Garner.

The premise could be fodder for exploitative drama, and Jacob's rage is so initially inexplicable that Hellion seems bound for exaggeration.

But first-time director Kat Candler does something unusual, dialing down the theatrics to create a powerful look at a broken family looking for someone, anyone, to lead it.

Wiggins leads the cast with a performance that's remarkably understated for an acting freshman. He has been on studios' radar since the movie hit Sundance.

But Hellion is full of other terrific performances, particularly Garner, who is as upbeat as his brother is morose. Juliette Lewis, for once, is the stable one in a movie, playing an aunt torn over confronting a negligent dad.

Beyond its characters, Hellion has a great sense of place. It captures remarkably well the banalities of teen life, from killing time to killing brain cells. Like Lights, Hellion conveys how claustrophobic life can feel, especially in a one-stop town.

Hollis' downward spiral goes largely ignored, leaving us to imagine how he became a husk of a father. And the gun that emerges near the final showdown feels inevitable.

But Hellion sidesteps convention time and again on its way to a tense, unpredictable conclusion. In a summer of clatter and clutter, Hellion makes a racket worth noticing.