A man’s family is killed sending him into a vengeful rage. Once his revenge done, he ends up in jail where a mysterious agency recruits him, gets him out, and then sets him on a mission.
Written by Chad Law and Josh Ridgway and directed by Christian Sesma, this action is one that is a bit predictable, but still a whole lot of fun. The twists and turns are not all surprising, but a few are. What is important here, at least for this viewer, is that the film is entertaining, moves at a fast pace, and doesn’t really have any lull in the script. Not all scenes are action scenes, but there aren’t many fully slow moments here. The film is writing in a way that it makes sense within its own universe, the characters have reasoning behind their actions (even the more extreme ones), and there is a bit of backstabbing here and there which adds a touch of unpredictability to a familiar story type. The characters are a bit archetypical, but why fix something that isn’t broken? The lines for the actors are mostly fine, a few being a bit extra, or over the top, but overall, the writing, as well as the directing, very well knows what type of movie this is and how to make it a successful entry in the genre.
The cast here is a solid group of action folks including Dolph Lundgren, Scott Adkins, Mickey Rourke, and Ryan Kwanten who has been doing a variety of films lately. The cast here works out quite well, all doing what they do and turning in good, entertaining performances. The film has a few baddies, some clear good guys, and a whole of grey area people. This makes for a fun watch as not everything is obvious from the get-go. Also, the cast selected for these parts are, in most cases, people who can actually fight. Let’s be honest here, when watching a Dolph Lundgren and Scott Adkins film, one expects fights and not just gun work. This film delivers and lets the cast, Adkins in particular, really flex their fighting muscles. So, if that is what you are looking for, this is a good one.
As for the film’s look, the cinematography by Robert Polgar and Anthony J. Rickert-Epstein and the editing by Eric Potter give the film pretty much the look and style expected for this type of film. The images and how they are editing together look good and work well in creating a fast-moving film. The film does work on this front with what it has and it definitely makes the most of it. Another part of production that needs to be recognize here and given some virtual ink is the stunts department. Stunt coordinator Luke LaFontaine and his team go great here, creating fights that look brutal and painful while making the fights look almost effortless at times.
Section 8 is an entertaining entry in the medium budget action genre of late, a fun one with plenty of fights and action sequences, one that has good performances and a cast worth stopping by for a look. This is a fun one and should be checked out by action film fans.
Section 8 comes out in theaters and on AMC+ on September23rd, 2022.