Rating: B-
Dir: Louis Mandylor
Star: Scott Adkins, Peter Shinkoda, Michael Copon, Gabbi Garcia
I knew Mandylor previously only as an actor – indeed, he had starred with Adkins in the two Debt Collector movies. But, it turns out, he also has a resume as a director, though this is the first film of his I’ve seen. On the basis of it, he’s competent. The key attribute here is knowing enough not to get in the way of Adkins kicking arse, which is why we are here, naturally. He plays Royal Air Force officer James Wright, whose plane crashes in the jungles of South-East Asia. He is the sole survivor and is eventually captured by the occupying Japanese forces.
“Eventually”, as in after killing more than a few of their soldiers – including a cameo from Shane Kosugi. Wright’s prowess brings him to the attention of Lt. Col. Ito (Shinkoda). He runs the local prisoner of war camp, and is preparing the inhabitants to go on a march. Which anyone vaguely aware of history will know is not going to end well for them, since they are in Bataan. Ito makes Wright go up against a slew of opponents, making this another in the “Adkins is a prisoner forced to fight” genre, which also includes the Undisputed franchise and Avengement – another production in which Scott starred alongside Mandylor. When not battling for his life, Wright hatches a plan to escape, using a downed glider, before the march of death can commence.
There wasn’t a huge budget here, though to be fair there didn’t need to be. The Philippines stood in for Burma, with a few huts and a couple of watch-towers about the extent of the locations. Beyond that, keeping the hero in a surprising number of clean shirts may have been the biggest expense. Snark aside, it’s fine in terms of production values. The most interesting thing here is probably the relationship between Wright and Ito. I did wonder why the Japanese simply didn’t shoot this troublesome prisoner out of hand, especially after he had killed a good few of their number. If it’s still not exactly Merry Christmas Mr Lawrennce, it does kinda make sense, leading to an ending which goes in an unexpected direction.
In general, however, we did find ourselves calling out the plot points before they happened, such as the local nurse (Garcia), who befriends Wright, then asks to be taken along on their escape attempt. There is some dry humour, as when Ito demands Wright interpret Navajo code messages he has intercepted, and the British officer snaps back, “Nobody understands Navajo except the Navajo. That’s the bloody point.” Or what seems perilously close to a borderline running gag, about the commander pronouncing Wright will die tomorrow. It all delivers almost exactly what was expected: at its best when Adkins is in action, yet not disgracing itself between the action sequences. I pronounce myself satisfied.
This review is part of Project Adkins, covering the movies of Scott Adkins.