Donnie Yen makes an awkward stab at being a regular actor in a weird hybrid of court room thriller and action movie.
The plot has Yen playing an unhappy police man who retires and becomes an attorney and prosecutor. He figures that he will be able to get justice done. However there are forces at work which are corrupting the judicial process. This is brought to light in his first case, the story of a young man arrested for drug possession after he receives as package that has drugs in it. The package was really for a friend who is connected to a drug cartel. As Yen digs deeper things get deadly.
This is a film that doesn't quite work. The mix of action and drama is doomed by a script that never weaves them together. While there are some great fight scenes that fit nicely in the film, there are several more that feel shoe horned in, as if director Yen didn't trust his acting chops. He should have since it was his acting ability that has made his turns in films like BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, The IP Man films, ROGUE ONE and JOHN WICK 4 so memorable, (It's also something I discussed with him both times I interviewed him)
The action itself is a bit uneven, owning in part to the randomness of a couple of bits and to the fact that it lifts too much from first person shooters and the John Wick films. Yen needs to realize that the Wick films were stealing his best stuff, he doesn't need to riff on the borrows.
Reservations aside. I did like the film. It's not bad, it's just wildly uneven. It also points to the possibility that the next time that Donnie Yen mixes action with drama something truly special might result.
No comments:
Post a Comment