Rating: B-
Dir: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza
Star: Marko Zaror, Celine Reymond, Alejandro Castillo, Luis Alarcón
Zaror perhaps deserves to be filed in the same category – albeit somewhat lower – as Scott Adkins, both being “martial artist actors who aren’t as well known as they deserve.” For Zaror, it’s partly an issue of location, stemming from being born and brought up in Chile – not exactly a hot-bed of cinematic fisticuffs. It took a dozen years after his film debut before he got his first English-speaking role, as the villain in Undisputed III: Redemption. Like that film’s star, Scott Adkins, Zaror also had a supporting role in John Wick: Chapter 4, playing Bill Skarsgård’s bodyguard. But Mandrill stems from fifteen years earlier, back in Zaror’s home country, though is still rather entertaining.
It’s a fairly simple plot – “Is this Juan Wick?” asked Chris early on. He plays the titular assassin, also known as Antonio Espinoza, who finally tracks down the one-eyed man responsible for killing his parents when Antonio was a kid. Subsequently raised by his uncle Chone (Castillo), he idolized suave super-secret agent John Colt, and largely became the same kind of man. He’s quick with a cheesy one-liner, irresistible to the ladies and able to escape any perilous situation in which he finds himself. But to achieve his revenge, he has to go through Dominik Del Solar (Reymond), the daughter of his parents’ killer. However, she may be the person who is capable of touching Mandrill, potentially fatally, in his most vulnerable spot: the heart.
This is clearly as much an affectionate parody of the genre, as a standalone movie itself, leaning into many of the tropes with enthusiasm, as well as a great deal of love. Nowhere is this clearer than when the film pauses to unspool an entire trailer for a John Colt movie, Codename: Carpe Diem. It’s so convincing, the more gullible may find themselves looking it up in the IMDb. And, um, not finding it. It should exist, dammit. But this is not just a spoof, because it’s apparent Zaror and Espinoza know their way around an action scene, the actor corkscrewing his way through the air on multiple occasion to good effect. [Though as Chris noted: it appears pony- and rat-tails on men were quite The Thing in Chile at the time]
Less effective is the romance between Antonio and Dominik, to which the film likely devotes too much time. Things like a nightclub scene, featuring the vocal talents of Dominik, followed by both getting to show off their dance moves, add little or nothing to proceedings. It’s something of a relief when the script has had enough of this faffing around, and Mandrill begins his assault on his target’s skyscraper. Revenge, however, turns out to be a two-way street, and I did love the ending, which – though I have questions – feels like it could have been pulled wholesale from an entry in the John Colt franchise. If he’s not quite Adkins, I’ve a feeling I’ll be looking into other Zaror movies before too long.