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.