Prime Video has brought us an updated version with Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor. Ex-UFC fighter Dalton, played by Jake Gyllenhaal takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.
So in addition to Gyllenhaal and McGregor, this features Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, and Jessica Williams. And there's also some performances from Lucas Cage, Arturo Castro, Bo Knapp, and Post Malone. The movie is directed by Doug Liman, and he certainly knows action.
He's done films like Edge of Tomorrow, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jumper, and The Bourne Identity. Now here, Liman incorporates a bunch of camera techniques in the attempt to create a lot of visual chaos that hopefully translates to excitement. And some of it works.
There are a bunch of bare-knuckle fights, and these are typically brutal with how punches land and how we hear and see bones cracking. But there are also a lot of times the action is reduced because of camera techniques. There's a sequence towards the end of the film where it switches to a first-person view, where the camera is not only the one throwing the punches, but also the recipient of some terrible blows.
And then multiple scenes feature the camera flying around the subjects and also mimicking their actions. So, like, if a character is thrown backwards, as they are being tossed, the camera also follows that same trajectory.
That's also something with this film. When the action is happening, there's a bunch of energy, and it creates a lot of fun, even if the camera angles and the movements distract. But the rest of the film is pretty much comprises of many long, drawn-out situations and sequences that feature uninteresting banter between a tantrum-throwing Billy Magnussen and his merry band of idiots.
And he's the typical predictable bad guy. He's singularly dimensional with no nuance or depth. From the moment we meet him, he's meant to be threatening and intimidating.
Instead, though, he comes across like a petulant three-year-old. And most of his gang is useless as well. I did like Arturo Castro just simply because he's the huge poser in the gang.
He talks big, but then is wildly out of his element once crap starts hitting the fan. And while his performance and his jokes did become less engaging as the movie went along, I still didn't mind watching him squirm when it became uncomfortable. Gyllenhaal is great as the stoic and typically silent Dalton.
He's vicious and brutal when it's called for. But we also see how he struggles to keep this primal rage contained and chained. His fighting skills are also wonderful to watch.
I mean, landing blows that would probably kill or at least seriously injure regular people. And there's a force and power in which he delivers his hits that you can feel through the screen. And then we've got Conor McGregor.
He is a maniacal fighter with some intense strength and skill, simply using his real-life talent for the role. But even though he's strong and fierce, he still came across as super goofy to me as a character. I mean, part in his walk, he's kind of like a hulking ape, strutting like he accidentally sat on a broom handle and it lodged pretty far up him.
His size and the way his body is ripped, it's certainly intimidating. Outside of that, though, he created more chuckles than trepidation. And the movie's right at two hours, and it is too long for what the story actually is.
There's a very thin and predictable plot that lacks any real emotional connection. A side story that involves a bookstore owner and his daughter had way more touch and draw. They were characters that we could actually feel for, but they, unfortunately, were only a minor addition.
And a lot of the lack of attachment to this story is just a direct result of how Billy Magnussen's character is written. He's a very generic bad dude, and his motives and plans are beyond simple. This makes the runtime feel much longer than it should, drawing out the portions that lack action into just uninteresting interactions and with characters who then feel underdeveloped and meaningless.
I think had this been shaved down, cut out some of the experimental camera work, and then created a more focused and sympathetic storyline, this would have been a more captivating hero saving the day type of story. The action, it's awesome, but its impact is greatly reduced by everything that surrounds it. I mean, I had fun watching, and I really enjoyed Gyllenhaal in this physically demanding role.
But the sum of all the parts simply makes this more of a forgettable movie than anything. It's dumb fun with equal parts dumb and fun. And I don't think this is something to clear your schedule to watch.
But if you are in the mood for some crazy fights and big chase scenes, you might want to give it a go. Anyways, I feel the movie deserves three out of five stars.
Posted using CineTV