A group of professional killers is gathered by a mysterious client to kill the best killer in the world.
Written and directed by Kevin Grevioux, this action film sets up its lead character as a sort of good guy professional killer with a family that he loves and protects, with something to lose. So of course, the story makes him lose part of that in an effort to send him down the path it needs to have him be part of a group of the world’s best professional killers, most of whom do not get much background or personality to speak of. And that is the main issue of the film, the other killers are just fodder. Most of them get very few lines and don’t connect with the viewers. They are there to be eliminated by the lead before he gets to the to his kill-for-hire goal. The film makes it clear that Garan is the one we should care about. It also makes no qualms about putting Frank Grillo in a part that is easy to guess from the start. Perhaps it’s a sign of having watched too many action films or perhaps the film has too many obvious twists, but the story here is not that enthralling. Yeah, there are some good action sequences. Yeah, most of the cast are highly trained fighters who are fun to watch take on each other. But is that enough to make a great film? Unfortunately, no. The film does want to be more than it is, so there is an A for effort here, but something is missing, and the story is too predictable.
In terms of performances, some of them are good, mainly Frank Grillo here. Some are ok, like Alain Moussi. And some are so flat, it’s a wonder why they were cast, see Georges St-Pierre (who can be more entertaining than this and that is what is most annoying here. This is something many of the cast members remind the viewers of, that they are capable of more than this, that they are being used perhaps incorrectly, or that something isn’t right with the script and direction. The cast is highly skilled in fighting and few of them get to do enough of it. When you have MMA fighters, why do you make them do gun fights? It feels like a waste and it’s incredibly frustrating here. It feels like a wasted opportunity.
In terms of style and look of the film, it’s well shot and edited, basically as expected for a mid-range direct-to-VOD film. It’s decent quality in terms of how it’s shot and how it comes together. It allows the viewer to see most of the fights quite well and it’s easy to follow.
For a film with a bunch of trained fighters, something feels off throughout most of its runtime. Perhaps it’s that they weren’t hired for the right parts, perhaps it’s the story that has issues, or perhaps it has something to do with the film having 17 executive producers. 17. Also, 7 producers and one associate producer. It seems the film had more producers than anything else, which may explain why it kind of feels like a “made by committee” film. This film had a lot of potential and most of it feels like it was wasted.