Rambo III

Ok round III.  After the events of Part II Rambo stuck around in Thailand (I guess he earned that presidential pardon even after threatening to kill the commander in charge?) living with Buddhist monks helping to repair their temple.  He does some brawling on the side for extra dough (this part is kinda fishy but I’ll circle back to it).  Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna (Hot Shots! Part Deux)) comes seeking Rambo’s help once again except this time in Afghanistan.  Soviet invaders are massacring the population and they need to be stopped.  The Afghans are fighting back and doing a good job but there’s one particular region that the Soviets still rule with an iron fist.  Rambo declines the offer because he’s finally at peace with himself.  Well except when he has the occasional stick match in town to pick up some frog skins for the freakend.  Anyway, Trautman goes on the mission himself, gets captured (he’s magically snuck up on by an enemy helicopter (?)) and now Rambo’s got the motivation to rescue his buddy/mentor…oh and help the Afghans while he’s there.

This almost comes off like a re-do of Part II.  The plot is pretty similar where Rambo must fly solo in a very dangerous situation to save a captured comrade.  The enemy choice is the same too because the Cold War was still happening at the time and the Soviets were an obvious easy target.  And there’s the usual machine guns blazing, explosive tipped arrows and helicopter battle type shit.

The Afghans are actually shown as brave warriors albeit somewhat primitive (they’ve never seen a glow stick before which in 1988 I find hard to believe).  They end up saving Rambo’s ass during the finale and help him throughout his mission.  BUT the implication is that they would not have succeeded against the Soviets if it weren’t for Rambo busting in there and murdering a shitload of them.

And the machoism of Rambo is something I haven’t touched on yet.  In First Blood John Rambo is rugged but he wrestles with the ruthless aggression he’s been taught to hone and exploit in warfare.  You see him struggling against what has become second nature, combat and survival by any means necessary.  In Part II he has no qualms about blowing dozens of people away and his strength alone is all that’s required to overcome the adversary.  Part III is the same.  Any nuance the character had originally is wiped away.  It turns into chest beating cave man shit that unfortunately is very popular with a large audience.  The character’s a robot.  What do we really know about John Rambo?  He kills things.  That’s about it.

You could say Rambo is America or at least how a lot of Americans like to think of themselves.  He’s an unstoppable force that can cure anything through sheer will and might.  This aspect is nauseating and part of why I could never get into these follow ups.

Surprisingly there was an attempt to lighten up the guy a bit in this installment.  Towards the end of the film Rambo all of a sudden starts throwing out one liners.  Even when faced with certain death as the entire Soviet army has their guns, tanks and helicopters pointed at he and Trautman Rambo makes a quip.  It comes off as unnatural as you would imagine.  This guy hasn’t made a single joke across two and a half movies and now he’s fuckin’ Mr. Comedy.  Such a weird decision.

You know what’s a real issue though?  The action.  Most of the sequences in Part III involve gunplay and it’s not in a badass John Woo sort of way.  It’s just Rambo flatly mowing down his enemies with a machine gun or a bow and arrow.  Part II had the same issue where it all blends together after a while.  They do a big helicopter chase/fight scene too which again, is similar to Part II.  Jeez, the action isn’t varied nearly enough and it isn’t artfully done so it gets boring.

It also takes over forty minutes for Rambo to start doin’ his killin’ thang.  This makes me suspicious of the underground fight scene in the beginning I mentioned earlier.  We’re introduced to Rambo battling some dude in front of a huge ravenous crowd of gamblers.  The scene doesn’t seem to serve any real purpose other than to include more fighting.  I have a feeling this scene was added after the filmmakers realized almost no action takes place until deep into the movie.

I guess in one sense they make up for lost time by having a staggering body count of 127.  How did we get here?  First Blood is so quaint compared to its sequels.

This is a really dumb movie.  I mean I do like how there seemed to be a conscious effort to place Rambo in a different setting each time.  The thing is the result is still the same as Part II.  Where’s the heart?  Where’s the soul?  It’s stupid American barbarian crap where only we can make the difference, even if you don’t want us to.

Rambo: First Blood Part II

First Blood is not the type of film that needs a sequel.  It’s perfectly self-contained and doesn’t hint at new adventures or leave plotlines unresolved.  Where do you go with the main character?

We start appropriately with Rambo in prison breaking rocks.  After the shit he pulled a few years prior in Washington this is exactly where he should be.  Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna (Body Heat)) visits Rambo to make him an offer.  They want to sneak him into Vietnam on recon to check on American prisoners of war who have been held there since the 70’s.  Rambo accepts instantly.  The issue is the commander in charge of the operation, Murdock (Charles Napier (Philadelphia, Original Gangstas)), only wants photos taken, no liberating.  It turns out Murdock doesn’t give a shit about the POWs.  He’s only doing this to placate his superiors.  Of course Rambo defies orders and goes for the rescue anyway.

Since no one was gonna make a movie about John Rambo’s ongoing struggling relationship with his country, brothers in arms, mentors, civilians and own mental health I guess the scenario they came up with makes as much sense as anything else.  Let’s see the guy in his natural element: war.  There are still ideology differences between he and authority figures but the main fight is with the Vietnamese and the Soviets.  Don’t fret though, the bureaucrats get their comeuppance.

There’s a stiffness to First Blood Part II that’s apparent to begin with but after having just seen First Blood the contrast is pretty stark.  Rambo isn’t a tragic figure here who loses grip on reality.  Instead he’s simply a meathead on a mission.  They tried to insert a love interest to make it more like a typical action movie and maybe to make him more relatable but man does it feel extremely forced.

And ok sure, you’re not gonna watch a Rambo sequel for the nuances in plot or character.  You can certainly have both but I get it, just blow stuff up real good.  Well a big problem with the action is it all blends together.  It’s Rambo shooting up or stabbing dudes for the most part.  They didn’t really come up with cool or inventive sequences.  The last twenty minutes where Rambo uses a helicopter to blow the fuck out of everything in sight does make you sit up and take notice but only because of how over the top it is.

It also doesn’t help that Rambo’s invincible now which reduces any sense of danger.  He gets tangled up in his gear while jumping out of a plane, tortured and constantly shot at.  No matter the situation he muscles through it.  At one point Rambo doesn’t even pretend anymore and stands unprotected in front of a bad guy unloading his pistol on him.  Nothing touches him.

Strangely I kept being reminded of Escape from New York during this last viewing which came out the year before.  You have an inmate recruited to infiltrate a dangerous place solo in order to retrieve some folks held captive.  They both drop the hero in by plane, rendezvous with an ally already inside, eventually get captured by the enemy and make a daring escape.

It’s impossible to ignore the James Cameron connection here.  Cameron worked as a matte painter on Escape from New York and wrote the original script for First Blood Part II.  Maybe he borrowed some ideas.  I dunno, Stallone rewrote it so I’m not sure how much of Cameron’s shit made it into the final product, probably not a ton.

It’s interesting though that like First Blood Part II Cameron’s own Aliens also goes off the fucking rails, especially when compared to their predecessors.  These might be the two most extreme examples of a first sequel taking it three levels higher than needed.  However, unlike First Blood Part II Aliens is a masterpiece that builds on the characters and Alien universe in a creative and more natural way.

My buddy summed up Part II perfectly by pointing out there’s no heart.  There’s no emotional investment and that in part doesn’t make it all that fun either.  We should be rooting for John to get the POWs out and all the tension that goes with that.  The POWs are supposed to be driving the plot but it turns into mindless killing and an unnecessary subplot about Murdock being a slimy asshole who doesn’t actually want to help anybody.

The only positive I can say is that they didn’t lazily rehash the first movie with Rambo snapping again and going on a rager against the law or another group of people in some small town.  They scaled it up significantly but too much in my opinion by having Rambo battle two armies.  I mean the body count is 67 compared to 1 in First Blood.

So I’m not too keen on this one.  You could start thirty minutes from the end and be in the same place mentally as if you watched from the beginning.  I might recommend doing that if you’re curious about the ridiculous spectacle it turns into.

First Blood

It’s hard to talk about First Blood without putting it in the context of the entire franchise.  The sequels are so different and are what people think about when the name Rambo is mentioned.  You know, huge ass explosions, guns constantly blazing, dead bodies stacked to the ceiling, ‘merica fuck yea, etc.  But things didn’t start out that way.  So I wanna isolate the original as much as I can and block out what came after.  Hopefully that’ll yield more fruitful results.  (Don’t worry, we’ll get to all the sequels in due time)

John Rambo’s extraordinary post-military life starts off unassuming but very tragic.  You can see in his eyes and demeanor that his soul has been broken after hearing the news of his war buddy’s death.  Exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam resulted in cancer taking its toll when he got back home.  Rambo doesn’t know where he’s going or what he’ll do next.  This sadness and bottled up rage towards the military, civilians and society as a whole boils over to fuel his rampage against anyone who crosses his path.

The storm within builds even more when small town Sheriff Teasle (Brian Dennehy (Best Seller)) doesn’t really give Rambo a chance and escorts him out of city limits at first sight.  This part feels rushed but the point is effectively made.  And the escalation of abhorrent behavior Rambo receives from the other officers is enough to where you wanna see this guy break some skulls.  Being beaten, verbally abused and shot at with a fire hose definitely crosses the line.  This triggers flashbacks to being tortured in a prison camp and he fucking freaks.

Once Rambo busts out of the Sheriff’s office the action doesn’t let up for a long while.  The chase is on and you wonder the whole time where this will eventually go.  Rambo adapts very quickly to the pacific northwest mountains with makeshift camouflage garb and setting booby traps for his followers.  It’s exhilarating the way Rambo turns the tables so fast by taking the cops out of their element and bringing them into his.

What’s really important is Rambo doesn’t want to hurt anybody at first.  He injures his pursuers to take them out of the game but doesn’t mortally wound them.  In fact he willingly gives up after the accidental death of a cop (the worst asshole of them all too giving the audience some bit of satisfaction even though Rambo is troubled with the outcome (also, this is the only confirmed death in the film, yea First Blood has a body count of 1)).  When the cops refuse and start shooting at him Rambo runs away but still doesn’t plan to engage with his adversaries as far as we can tell.  If they left him alone he would probably make a home in the woods and never bother anyone ever again.  Extending an olive branch makes Rambo the better man and gets us permanently on his side.  And at the same time the swatting away of that peace offering does irreparable damage for the cops in our minds.  They drew first blood.

I don’t know if I’d call this a high concept action picture with the cleverly executed extremely straightforward and streamlined plot but it’s damn close.  It’s unconventional in that the lines are blurred between good guys and bad guys, the cops are the villains, the military shares some blame for Rambo’s condition, our hero is like a machine yet is overcome with a deluge of feelings when pushed over the edge and there’s no romantic interest (not only would that be inappropriate here but there’s simply no room).

The finale is unusual as well.  It starts off typical with Rambo infiltrating enemy territory and blowing up as much shit as he can (without casualties).  But the climax is an emotional meltdown.  Rambo is frustrated, depressed and apoplectic over how the military used he and his friends only to toss them aside when they were through.  He can’t escape the haunting memories of war that he believes the military is partially to blame for.  Stallone’s performance is great overall but in this scene he’s heart wrenching.  Finally we understand why he lashed out so hard.  He’s been carrying a lot for a long time.

I can see why this was a hit.  The combination of character study, societal views towards war veterans and how we treat them, abuse of power by the law, bigotry and, of course, Rambo’s use of force is powerful.  It’s different from what audiences were used to and they embraced it.

Everything came together.  If you haven’t seen First Blood yet then you really should.  It’s required reading for any self-respecting action film aficionado but it’s also just a good movie period.

Nighthawks

So Nighthawks, it’s a 1981 gritty urban cop drama very much in the 70’s pseudo-documentary style that pictures like The French Connection and The Seven-Ups made popular.  Terrorist Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer (Blind Fury)) is on the run after bombing a London department store and comes to NYC.  But instead of hiding out he continues to wreak havoc.  Meanwhile cops Deke DaSilva (Stallone) and Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams (Batman (1989))) are recruited to be part of an anti-terrorist unit within the police department specifically to track down Wulfgar.

The movie’s fine.  All aspects are played straight up without much flair, the performances are good (especially Williams who gets impassioned at times), the plot’s always moving forward at a nice pace and the action set pieces are pretty neat.  The biggest by far is the part where Wulfgar holds a group of people hostage, including several international diplomats, on a Roosevelt Island tram car high above the East River.  How’s Wulfgar gonna make his daring escape?  How will DaSilva and Fox take the bastard down?

Two things I don’t totally understand.  Earlier in the film DaSilva and Fox chase Wulfgar on foot and it goes on for a while across a bunch of blocks, through underground construction and finally they wind up in a subway train.  Wulfgar eventually gets away (spoiler) but after this incident he detests DaSilva for some unknown reason.  Fox was part of the chase too but Wulfgar doesn’t seem to care as much about him.  During the Roosevelt Island tram episode Wulfgar asks for DaSilva personally to come and remove a baby on board and while they’re face to face takes the opportunity to rub DaSilva’s nose in the shitty situation.  On top of that Wulfgar then demands DaSilva drive the bus full of hostages to the airport.  This animosity only for DaSilva comes out of nowhere.

Well the culprit points to some severe editing that took place at the hands of Stallone and later the producers to make the focus more on DaSilva and to tighten up the runtime.  That makes sense because the characters are fairly underdeveloped and there isn’t much of a build up to the tram scene or Wulfgar’s seething hatred toward DaSilva.

The other thing I don’t get is the title.  DaSilva and Fox don’t work exclusively at night and the word nighthawks is never used.  Whatever, sounds kinda cool I guess.

This won’t change your life or anything and isn’t all that interesting in the larger context of Stallone’s career.  He doesn’t write, direct or produce this time.  He’s simply an actor for hire.  This is his first cop role (I believe) which would become something he would revisit periodically throughout the years.  Unlike some other action stars of his era who seemed to play nothing but lawmen it would take Sly a good ten years before he carried a badge.

One last item, there’s an awesome action connection here in that this was directed by Bruce Malmuth who went on to make the Steven Seagal classic Hard to Kill and the very fun Dolph Lundgren Olympics thriller Pentathlon.

Driven

Time for a little Stallone retrospective.  I’ll be going over a mix of the less popular films he’s done as well as one of his biggest franchises (it’s a 50/50 guess which one we’ll do).  This stemmed from “The Ultimate Stallone Reader” which I had plenty of time to take in as I’m spending a lot more time at home like the rest of you with this crazy ass shit happening out there.

The first movie I checked out on this journey was Driven from 2001.  I’d never seen it before so that seemed like a good place to start.  It’s about upstart CART racing genius Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue (The Rules of Attraction)) and his rivalry with multi-championship winner Beau Brandenburg (Til Schweiger (Inglorious Bastards)).  As these things go they bicker off the track and naturally fight over a woman (Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes (2001))) which doesn’t end how you would predict and feels wrong (just one of many unusual decisions made).  Stallone plays an aging driver who gets asked by team owner Burt Reynolds (Silent Movie) to come out of retirement to help Bly win the season.  Sly mentors the kid and drives alongside him to keep the other cars from placing.

First thing I gotta mention is I don’t know jack shit about professional car racing of any kind.  After some research I found out that this takes place in the world of IndyCar as opposed to Formula 1.  Specifically this is about CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) which dissolved in 2003 shortly after the film was made.  If there are any racing fans out there is this any sort of intriguing glimpse into a bygone era?  Does the movie give an accurate depiction of this racing style?  I mean I assume it doesn’t but I’m always curious about accuracy in pictures.

Anyway, setting aside my lack of knowledge on the subject matter the movie is terrible.  It reeks of early 2000’s panache.  Way too many closeup shots, there’s frantic coke-fueled editing, repulsive CGI work (especially in the last race where it’s overused making certain shots look like ugly video game graphics) and a nu-metal/angsty soundtrack.  Not to mention the incessant ogling of young hot ladies in skimpy outfits.  Jesus, this combination of puke is too much for one film.

Plus all the characters are remarkably boring and one dimensional.  I didn’t give a shit about any of them including Stallone.  The casting choices are a head scratcher as well because none of the actors have any chemistry.  Relationships are supposed to have been formed and broken but every move feels contrived.  There were clearly numerous scenes that were either shortened to less than thirty seconds or excised all together because there are several montages of these clipped sections pieced together.  As a result the character development is very awkward with strange and abrupt changes.  For example Stallone has a private talk with Brandenburg (aka the villain) encouraging him to get back together with his girlfriend who’s with Jimmy Bly now.  Bly is the hero and Sly is on his team so what the fuck is he doing?!

The car racing stuff isn’t all that exciting either.  Based on this and Days of Thunder it seems hard to make official car races (not street races or car chases) engaging.  The human element is more removed because you can’t see the driver’s face or body.  In other sports films that showcase a different activity like basketball, baseball, arm wrestling, etc. you see the body contorting and the face wrenching while achieving this majestic physical feat.  With car racing it’s cars passing each other and not much else.  It’s difficult to make that cinematic.

This is almost boring.  If there wasn’t so much dated crap bombarding your brain all the time this would be such a slog.  In that sense it’s a time capsule curiosity.  Sure The Fast and the Furious came out the same year and exhibits a whole helluva lot of the same qualities but the story and the handling of the characters and the action sequences are a million times better.

I wish I could say something positive here because I dig a lot of the folks involved like Renny Harlin, Stallone (who also wrote this), Burt Reynolds and Gina Gershon but I’m struggling.

Here’s where they fucked up: several people in the picture refer to Stallone’s character’s wild past where he drove his car and his life to such a breaking point that Gershon utterly hates his guts for how he treated her and Reynolds holds a bit of a grudge because of his old antics.  Where the fuck is that movie?

Mish Mash Jesse V. Johnson Edition (Savage Dog, Accident Man, The Debt Collector, Triple Threat, Avengement)

After some regrettable neglect I finally got around to a handful of Jesse V. Johnson joints.  He started out as a stuntman racking up some serious credits over the years like Total Recall, Cutthroat Island, Starship Troopers, The Thin Red Line, Terminator 3, War of the Worlds, Avatar and The Amazing Spider-Man.  He even has a special effects assistant credit on Hellraiser II and a set production assistant credit on The Shawshank Redemption.  Wow.  The man’s been writing and directing since the late 90’s but in recent years he’s been teaming up with the legendary Scott Adkins to make some of the best action films of the 2010’s (and hopefully beyond).  Let’s take a brief look at five of the six they’ve done so far (I didn’t see Pit Fighter from 2005).

(Just one note, I don’t want to give the impression that Johnson only works exclusively with Adkins.  He’s made many other movies with a range of actors which I’m sure kick ass and hope to check out soon.)

Savage Dog (2017)

Savage Dog is a bit different than the other films on this list because it’s a period piece that takes place in 1959 Indochina (I think it’s supposed to be Vietnam specifically).  Adkins plays a former IRA member who’s held prisoner by a rogue group of war criminal misfits led by an ex-Nazi (Vladimir Kulich (The 13^th Warrior)).  They force the prisoners to fight each other while gambling on the outcome.  The loser naturally gets executed.

The corrupt outfit feels that Adkins has paid his debt after three and a half years and let him go with the catch that they’ll call on him to fight again in the future.  Adkins gets taken in by amiable bar owner Keith David (Ken Burns Jazz) to become his bouncer and friend.  Through a series of events Adkins must return to underground fighting but also avenge the murder attempt on he and his girlfriend.

This one’s a little rough around the edges.  There are some awkward scene transitions and editing, the special effects are very cheap looking at times and a few story decisions are strange.  For instance Adkins fights off a thousand enemies in the finale but the last bad guy escapes.  Adkins trails and then fights him in some town presumably a couple of days later.  There was no reason to delay this fight by a few minutes of runtime.  It doesn’t add anything to the story.

There’s a gruesome stretch where Adkins goes after people with a machete hacking off body parts and ramming that sucker into shoulders and chests.  It’s extremely nasty to witness.  Also, at one point Adkins digs a huge knife into the abdomen of a foe, digs out their liver and takes a bite of it in front of the still conscious dying man.  The machete attacks are vicious enough but the liver scene is probably the most grotesque thing in all the films discussed here.

So this one’s ok.  The story’s a tad confusing and several of the technical aspects need some work but the action is solid.  It’s also weird that it seems Johnson was going for something slightly lofty with the late 50’s setting, the text on screen at the beginning setting up the situation, the completely unnecessary narration describing Adkins’ situation and feelings and the quote about valor and honor at the end.

Accident Man (2018)

Adkins is part of a group that specializes in making hits look like accidents so no one suspects foul play.  But the tables have turned and now someone has put a contract out on him.  He goes on the run while investigating who wants him dead and why.

This one’s based on a comic book series of the same name and includes different members of the accident club who have their own specific way of staging a murder.  One guy only uses poison, another wields an ax, a duo are special forces dudes (Ray Park (Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace) and Michael Jai White (Black Dynamite)), a lady samurai (stunt woman extraordinaire Amy Johnston (Lady Bloodfight, stunts: Terminator: Dark Fate, Deadpools, Suicide Squad, Spider-Man: Far From Home)) and a guy who uses unconventional methods like a microwave bomb.

Interestingly as of this post this film is Adkins’ only writing credit (who he co-wrote with Stu Small (The Debt Collector, Avengement (we’ll get to both of those)).  I wonder if he penned the copious amount of narration because there’s a helluva lot.

The tone is a touch lighter than the others on the list.  There’s a rock music soundtrack and it’s also more jokey but adorably so.  For example Adkins has to get the PMT (post murder tension) out of his system by beating the shit out of rape-y assholes at a bar while commenting on their lack of fighting technique and lighting a fella’s cigarette only to punch the poor bastard out immediately afterward.  This guy’s kind of an all around grouchy dick seemingly in a constant bad mood but like I said, Adkins makes it fun by pumping the breaks on the contempt just enough to make the character enjoyable.

The fights are an enormous step up from Savage Dog.  They flow marvelously and the hits feel extra hard with the beefed up effects sounds.  Adkins faces off against all his colleagues and since each has a unique specialty the battles yield a variety of flavors.  All involved are in top form and they keep the intensity high throughout.

Accident Man is a damn good time.  While it’s not my absolute favorite here it’s a good starting point if you’re interested in Johnson’s work (and I assume you would be otherwise why would you be reading this?).

The Debt Collector (2018)

Down on his luck dojo owner Scott Adkins resorts to debt collecting for a gangster so he can make enough money to keep his business open.  He’s teamed up with veteran Sue (Louis Mandylor (The Quest)) to go around LA and either issue warnings or rough up folks who owe large.

Out of these five this is my favorite.  The chemistry between Adkins and Mandylor is key to the whole thing.  They don’t like each other that much at first because Adkins is new to all this and doesn’t really want to hurt anyone while Sue has been in the game a long time.  He isn’t afraid to get tough from the start plus he knows that if they don’t produce results it’s their asses.  Going up against dickwad thugs of various statures forms a bond between them.  They need to watch each other’s back if they want to stay in one piece by the end of the day.  The two grow to respect each other and man is that great to see.

Mandylor gives such an amazing performance with a haunted past that’s been eating at him for decades.  He has a hollow relationship with a porn star/stripper who only hangs around him to syphon off cash and he drinks himself to sleep every night.  You can tell he has a good heart underneath but can’t improve his situation nor is he really looking to.  He’s punishing himself for shit that happened long ago.

The very simple plot is not only easy to follow but it allows for diverse situations to unfold.  As the collectors go from one deadbeat to the next they encounter a fresh set of douchebags they must battle in order to nab the money or get the warning across.  Sometimes they’re gargantuan shit-your-pants type motherfuckers and sometimes they’re young punks that pull a gun.  They (and you) never quite know what they’re walking into which adds a lot of excitement.

I can’t wait for the sequel that’s coming out soon.  I’m definitely ready to collect some more debts.

Triple Threat (2019)

Check out this insane cast: Tony Jaa (Ong-Baks), Iko Uwais (The Raid: Redemption), Michael Jai White (Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing), Tiger Hu Chen (who I’m not so familiar with but he was in Man of Tai Chi and John Wick 3 so he’s certainly ok in my book) and of course Scott Adkins (well, you know).  Whoever orchestrated the logistics of getting these all star badasses together deserves a medal because I’m sure it wasn’t easy.

The story involves White, Jaa and Chen raiding a Thai prison camp.  Jaa and Chen think they’re there to rescue the (innocent?) people being held captive but surprise! it’s a ploy to break out notorious terrorist Adkins (who wears the worst goddamn wig of all fucking time, but thankfully only for this one scene).  Jaa and Chen are left for dead with a bomb when they refuse to comply so of course they plot revenge when they survive.  Uwais’ wife is killed during the attack on the camp and he vows revenge as well.  Meanwhile a Chinese heiress (Celina Jade (The Man with the Iron Fists)) wants to donate her fortune to fight crime which upsets a lot of folks so a contract is put out on her headed up by the newly freed Adkins and White.  Fortunately she runs into Jaa and Chen and they protect her while fighting off the villains.  Uwais is in the mix too somewhere.

So the triple threat here is Jaa, Chen and Uwais.  And it’s a nice change of pace for White and Adkins to play the bad guys (although not unprecedented, Adkins went bad in The Expendables 2 and Undisputed 2 (but then turned good in Undisputed 3!), White turned bad in Universal Soldier: The Return (I think) and played a gangster in The Dark Knight).

The big problem the movie suffers from is the needlessly complicated plot.  The heiress really didn’t need to be in there as Jaa and Chen have more than enough motivation to go after White and Adkins.  We never even find out who’s behind the hit contract or their potential ulterior motive for wanting this lady dead (unless I missed that which is totally possible).

And Uwais gets treated pretty shittily.  He tries to play both sides but the way it’s handled is confusing and they turn him into a not very good fighter.  Jaa and Chen are supposed to be the real powerhouses on the good guy side and I guess Johnson and co figured three would be too much of the same.  I just have a hard time accepting this because Uwais was like THE best fighter in The Raids so it’s extremely weird to see him lose fairly easily to multiple opponents.

Most of the fight scenes are cool though.  The two on one brawl between Adkins, Jaa and Chen is well done and there’s one stretch where Adkins and co are chasing Jaa and co with a few stops for some skirmishes but it keeps going and going with several location changes.  I like the nonstop determination of this part.  It’s like in a Terminator film where they don’t give you much breathing room.

Jaa looks like he’s having a blast too both in the fighting and dialogue scenes.  He and Chen are charming motherfuckers in this.

Avengement (2019)

Adkins plays Cain Burgess, a young scrapper who wants to borrow money from his gangster brother Lincoln (Craig Fairbrass (Cliffhanger)).  Lincoln has a rule about never lending money to family but will make an exception if Cain will do a job for him.  Cain accepts, gets busted, spends years in prison, busts out and seeks avengement.

The plot is wonderfully straightforward but they get a lot of mileage by telling the story out of order and revealing the few twists and turns at crucial points.  You see Cain holds his brother’s crew hostage at their hangout bar and tells them what happened to him over the past several years while being careful to dole out the right info at the right moment.  This method works really well to economically escalate the tension and suspense.  Kudos to the filmmakers for taking something that normally would’ve been way more ordinary and spicing it up.

And if you like fighting then this is the picture for you.  It feels like they packed in more punches and kicks per square inch than the others on this list.  And the violence is probably the most brutal overall which includes a curb stomp on a set of stairs, a grisly head shot at point blank range and many stabbings.

Cain’s arc is one of the highlights.  He starts out as a naïve kid who’s never been in trouble before but when he winds up in the hoosegow he has to get tough fast or he won’t survive long.  His boxing background is a strong foundation but he trains hard to be able to dish out and take huge amounts of pain.  So by the time he makes his escape he’s a different person.  He’s a smashing machine.  And I love that they go through the events of how he received each and every one of his hideous scars.  Usually a badass character has these marks purely for visual flair but to actually put in the effort and give background on them is such nice detail that almost no one ever bothers with.

Avengement is great.  The devil is in the details here.  Putting focus on some key areas like the narrative structure and Cain’s transformation from puppy dog to ferocious bulldog makes all the difference.  It’s this creative thinking and dedication to putting out an awesome exciting movie that makes Johnson an outstanding filmmaker.