Rating: B-
Dir: James Bamford
Star: Adam Woodward, Jon Voight, Marton Csokas, Charlotte Weston
The concept of warriors battling each other across the ages isn’t a new one. The most well-known example is obviously Highlander, but I’m a particular fan of Ryuhei Kitamura’s Versus. This has a similar idea, though adds its own twists, so still feels fresh. Ryder (Woodward) wakes up in an LA hotel room, with no memory of how he got there, or even who he is – he gets his name from reception. But he’s plagued by dreams and visions, in which he battles the same people across different eras. For instance, one man (Voight) was at different times a Roman senator, a medieval lord and a Nazi officer. In each period, there’s a sidekick (Csokas), whispering maliciously in his ear.
This time, it seems his opponent has been incarnated as Sanborn, a property developer looking to rebuild the city, whether the residents want it or not. Standing against him – as she has down the centuries – is Shelly (Weston), now a local bar-owner. Ryder needs to figure out what his role is, and hopefully make a difference, by convincing enough of the players that it’s never too late to do the right thing. It’s unclear quite how much each participant knows. Feels like Shelly remembers more, as does Sanborn’s architect advisor, Soach (and there’s a clue in his name). Yet there seems to be rules limiting what they can reveal. The script does a very good job at drip-feeding the audience information, not revealing too much or too little.
It’s not as action-packed as I expected: you get one fight in each era, and they’re not particularly long. They are well-done, with Bamford working in action for over thirty years, first doing stunts, then as an coordinator. Woodward – better known as an actor on UK soaps like Hollyoaks – acquits himself credibly too. But I suspect this could still be an intriguing scenario, if all the fight sequences were removed. The story can be told from any of the characters’ viewpoints, and provide a different perspective, with Weston and Csokas the anchors holding the endeavour together. Both are good: Csokas especially is fun to watch, approaching Nicolas Cage levels of off-centre.
Elsewhere, Voight more or less Voights, and Woodward has the square-jawed hero down. There’s a Kit Harington vibe about him, which works well for the character. Things are a little contrived, with the usual conceit of cinematic amnesia, in which Ryder remembers things as needed by the plot. Meanwhile, LA property management feels low-stakes beside the other battles down the millennia, despite the insertion of an attempted child kidnapping (probably because it’s the daughter of a fringe character we don’t care about). But there’s surprising heart here, and by the end, I found myself genuinely engaged in the fate of the main players. Bamford continues to improve, and if there’s any justice, it feels like only a matter of time before he gets the chance to work on a major project.
The film is available to buy on digital now.