Rating: C
Dir: David Ayer
Star: Jason Statham, Maximilian Osinski, David Harbour, Arianna Rivas
Having enjoyed the previous Statham-Ayer collaboration, The Beekeeper, I was hoping for a similar level of violent, deadpan ludicrous entertainment. I can only express disappointment at the thoroughly mediocre competence on view here. I suspect a good part of the reason is a script not written by Kurt Wimmer, but instead is a collaboration between Ayer and, um, Sylvester Stallone? Despite being similarly part of the “Jason Statham goes vigilante” subgenre, this doesn’t have the same pep or zing which made Beekeeper such a pleasure, and an unexpected commercial success. It may not have helped that I recently rewatched Spy, in which Statham spoofs the kind of hard-boiled and unstoppable persona he plays here.
He plays Levon Cade – is there an AI which spits out these names? He’s a construction worker in Chicago, employed by the sort of company which needs a visit from ICE, if you get my drift. Boss’s daughter Jenny Garcia (Rivas), gets kidnapped by Russian mobsters for the usual sex-trafficking purposes. Fortunately, Cade is an ex-Royal Marines commando, who has the necessary skills to go after them, because… um, he said he’d have her back? Really, that’s the motivation. Along with a daughter of his own, over whom he’s fighting for custody with her maternal grandfather, mom having committed suicide. The angle is one of a number undercooked, perhaps intended to be explored in future movies. [It’s based on a book franchise by Chuck Dixon, and was originally intended as a TV series]
It’s merely OK. Statham is as reliable as ever, when in the business of cracking Russian heads and extracting information. However, the villains are nowhere near amusing and/or memorable as in Beekeeper. The most amusing scene sees the hero re-united with Snatch colleague, Jason Flemyng, affecting an unexpected (yet rather impressive) Rrrrrrussian accent as mid-tier gangster Wolo Kolisnyk. The rest make little impression, and the scenario could have been rolled out in any straight to video actioned from the early nineties. It’s perhaps a tacit acknowledgement by the film of its own limitations, how a biker gang gets thrown into the mix for the final battle. Even Wikipedia gets bored, amusingly describing it as Levon “proceeds to mow down every last criminal in his path.”
As a result, while I was never actively bored, I’m going to remember more about most Scott Adkins movies of the past year than this. They might not have the resources, yet things like Take Cover feel considerably less rote and boilerplate. The most intriguing element here might be why the makers felt the need to give thanks to the Submarine Force in the end credits. For this is a film where the biggest body of water is the swimming pool over which Kolisnyk gets dangled (top). Submarines, in particular, are notable by their complete absence. If there are future installments here, I’ve a feeling they may not receive the same 3,200 screen theatrical release which this enjoyed.