Displaying items by tag: Scott Adkins

ACCIDENT MAN: HITMAN'S HOLIDAY

UK, 2022, 96 minutes, Colour.

Scott Adkins, Ray Stevenson, Kerry Benson, Sarah Chang, George Fouracres, Flaminia Cinque, Beau Fowler, Peter Lee Thomas.

Directed by George Kirby, Harry Kirby.

In 2018, British action star and martial arts champion, Scott Adkins, had success with the crime drama, Accident Man. The main villain was played by Ray Stevenson. There was an action show of fights, gangsters, betrayals, killing. In 2022, this sequel.

For the martial arts action fans, enjoyment in seeing Adkins again as the hitman, Mike Fallon, the return of Ray Stevenson as the heavy, and Perry Benson as the rather ingenuous inventor-killer.

As regards the plot, the setting is Malta, Fallon available for assassinations (plenty in Malta), teaming up with his friend, Ray Stevenson tracking him down and threatening. The basic plot is that a gangster matriarch wants protection for her son while five world assassins are trying to track him down. He is something of an idiot, a would-be singer in a club, behaves ridiculously, seems hardly worth saving. However, Fallon has to save him and fight and conquer the world assassins. He does so with the help of a friend, martial arts champion, whom he pays to come up on him suddenly to test his skills. More or less expected, lots of choreography for the fights.

While the fans enjoy this kind of film, those looking at it more seriously have many issues raised. The first is the somewhat engaging (not always)  Mike Fallon is actually something of a conscienceless hitman for higher, achieving what he sets out to do, in some ways carrying some guilt for betraying friends in the previous film. But, he continues this work in the present film – and the challenge for audiences for some kind of moral perspective on who he is, what he does, the people who pay him to do this, the world of gangsters and power, thugs. And, there is the inherent violence in the fights, the necessity for the plot, not so much the what of the fights but how they are choreographed, the brutality and the violence.

Popular films – but raising issues about why they are so popular and what of the key issues for discussion.

LIGHTS OUT

US, 2024, 90 minutes, Colour.

Frank Grillo, Mekhi Pheifer, Jamie King, Dermot Mulroney, Scott Adkins.

Directed by Christian Sesmo.

This is one of those action films which used to be called “straight-to-video”. Now it is “quick-to-streaming”.

There is immediate war action, grimly filmed, involving the central character Duffy, played by Frank Grillo, who seems to have specialised in appearing in this kind of action show. Then he is involved in a confrontation with someone cheating at cards, displaying a capacity for fighting. He is observed by Max, Mekhi Pheifer, with a proposal that they join together doing the rounds of the Underground fight club’s, making money from bets – something which immediately happens.

Duffy is wary of Max at first, then joins with him, goes to Los Angeles and boards with Max’s sister and niece, the sister being a victim of domestic violence. And he is tormented by flashbacks to the past.

The first minutes of the film, it seems to be a macho show for a male audience, then some acknowledgement of women as victims of male domestic violence.

The rest of the film is a combination of tough, very tough fight scenes, a wheeler dealer fights entrepreneur played, surprisingly, by Dermot Mulroney, who is also one of the producers of the film. However, the main villains of the film happened to be reputable police, actually working the fight clubs, claiming money, even shooting their opponents while keeping their reputation. In fact, the main villain is a female detective played by Jamie King.

Duffy becomes a more genial man, especially boarding with Max’s sister and niece, gets tangled up in more fights, building up to a confrontation with the corrupt police and shootout.

The film is principally for a male audience which likes this kind of tough action – and for a female audience who may be interested in a film with such a tough female villain.

The director, Christian Sesmo, has made many such action shows.