AVENGEMENT (2019)
While grubby London gangster dramas and straight to video action heroes aren't perhaps the most obvious movie ideas to combine I'm all for outlandish experiments, particularly those involving colourful characters from each genre. Prison break stories or tales of racketeering don't usually have so many round-house kicks after all, but director-star duo Jesse V. Johnson and Scott Adkins are back to deliver on both fronts. Or perhaps more appropriately -- with both barrels. To paraphrase one of the sleazy crooks involved 'enough panto!' But I'm all for a bit of melodrama and good helping of overblown scenery chewing so the more the better.
Cain Burgess (Scott Adkins) has had a rough few years that are written all over his scarred face, but he's being allowed a few hours out of prison to see his dying mother one last time. But after this is done he has other family matters on his mind and soon enough he's dodged the police escort so he can pay a far less sympathetic visit to his brother Lincoln (Craig Fairbrass). But his journey from the hospital to his brother's private club is less that straightforward, and as things go on we're shown a series of flashbacks that drip feed Cain's backstory. There are scenes of his younger less damaged self, plenty of moments showing his incarceration, and many more recent events just after his escape. All of them are pretty volatile so just who or what made him into this monster?
It's a bit of a tangled web as various scenes unfold which perhaps overcomplicates a fairly simple plot. But it's all reasonably engaging as Cain takes the unsavoury patrons hostage at gunpoint and explains what led him down this path. There are various twists and turns in this story of brotherly betrayal and criminal enterprises, starting with Cain and his idea to open a gym clashing with Lincoln's own shady business plans. Clearly things haven't worked out for the family or the business, and the subsequent prison term has been very bad for Cain's well-being. But where his gnarly burns and new teeth have come from since their last meeting is something that he eagerly explains to his captive audience while they wait for Lincoln to arrive.
This is often both a brutal and gruesome story, but at the same time it's often a rather silly mixture of drama and action. During his time inside Cain has been apparently assaulted every day for over five years. Five years of apparently unstoppable attacks from random inmates with makeshift weapons and bad attitudes. It seems he's fought them and won each time... outside of various spells in solitary confinement of course. Are there really so many willing assailants in HMP Belmarsh? Is the prison service this incompetent? Clearly this isn't a film about the real life world of the justice system. But that's okay and once the tone has been established it's easy to roll with the punches. This is a story set in a heightened reality filled with theatrical reveals and head-cracking action beats.
However it still has a lot of heart thanks to a straightforward central motivation for Cain who just wanted to earn respect from Lincoln. The cartoonish scars he collects as things get out of control are contrasted with the realistic signs of age on his mother's face when she visits the prison, giving his struggle some emotional weight. It's admittedly pretty sentimental and doesn't really explore these characters with that much depth, if any at all, but it lends the story an appropriate level of pathos. Scott Adkins himself is both sinister and relatable when necessary and he's given enough moments of sadistic cheekiness and personal turmoil throughout. For someone regarded just as an action guy he delivers more than expected one-note performance.
However this is of course an action movie first and a drama second, with plenty of bone-crunching sequences. One particular fight scene in an empty disco towards the end feels a bit unnecessary, but the other set pieces in the prison cell block and during the finale are visceral and weighty. There's no room for athletic finesse or stylish moves because of the story and these locations, but the stunt work delivers and there are enough fun moments throughout. As a result Cain's narrative and the meandering story he tells is well paced instead of feeling like one tangent too many. Perhaps this isn't all edge-of-your-seat storytelling but it is well executed and atmospheric thanks to some moody visuals and a fitting retro score by Sean Murray.
I'd probably have expected a martial arts school versus gangland thugs storyline from this cast, and to be honest I'm hoping maybe they'll still come back and make that one day. But the end results are highly entertaining in a story that works to the strengths of everyone involved. It's not the most complex thriller ever written and the sudden flashes of gory violence won't be for everyone, but all the elements fit together nicely. It's a simple revenge story told in a compelling way with a good central character and enough moments of dark humour to keep it interesting (be sure to watch the after credits scene). You've seen this sort of underdog movie before and there are a lot of films about prisons and city gangs out there, but it's always nice to see old ideas executed well.
4/5
BONUS REVIEW
THE DEBT COLLECTOR (2018)
Elsewhere this same film making team doesn't quite hit the same mark in this earlier effort about money lending and bone breaking in Los Angeles. It's a similarly straightforward tale as Englishman in L.A. French (Scott Adkins) wants to stay in business as a fighting instructor but is forced to work for a loan shark to pay his bills. At first this seems like a great idea as hoodlums from a rival school try to take over his business. The opening salvo and the subsequent plot hook are nice and direct establishing both the character's skills and his plight. But despite a lot of good moments in the first half this doesn't really stick the landing for a variety of reasons.
French, the no-nonsense ex-military man, is teamed up with Sue (Louis Mandylor) an amoral ex-alcoholic. Or maybe current alcoholic? One wants to make do things right and push forward in life, the other lives in the past and does things his own way. One is a little stuffy with his British accent and his ill-fitting suit, while the other is a slimy Los Angeles local in a sweaty t-shirt. This isn't breaking any new ground but it does mean they get to have fun playing off one another as they travel around working through a laundry list of debtors. There's even less style to the action here as each meeting goes wrong in various different ways, but it's entertaining enough just as a crime comedy.
The main problem is that there's so much waste in the third act, despite Tony Todd being introduced as an important client of their boss. They just don't give him enough to do, while the character moments that made it work start to come undone. The big twists in the story make this all feel smaller somehow. Moral questions are asked very bluntly, and characterisation is delivered with even less tact. To make things worse the conclusion is a messy gunfight and the opening martial arts school thread never makes a re-appearance. Why isn't the main villain working with them so it can be tied together? There's a lot that works here, don't get me wrong, but the rest of it means that the result is unfortunately a missed opportunity.
3/5
