Busy with a whole slew of high-profile big-screen projects this year , Scott Adkins’ latest outing, ‘Eliminators‘ is a slice of formulaic but fun DVD action…
The mean streets of London become a battleground for a bloody and brutal royal rumble between two very physical British action stars. In the red corner (playing an American) is Scott Adkins from the Undisputed and Ninja franchise and playing his nemesis is the towering Stu Bennett (aka Wade Barrett from the WWE) with Green Street Hooligans: Underground director James Nunn referees and helms the project.
Adkins plays Thomas McKenzie, an ex-FBI agent living in London with his daughter as part of a Witness Protection Program and now going by the name of ‘Martin Parker’. But when he is forced to defend himself during a botched robbery attempt, he finds himself being charged with murder and his face being plastered across the news… and his identity compromised. It also brings him back to the attention of Cooper (James Cosmo) a vicious crime lord who hs been looking for him for years, Thomas had been undercover in Cooper’s organization and fallen in love with his daughter… and Cooper blames him for her death. He wants his granddaughter in his hands. Cooper hires Bishop (Stu Bennett), a highly-rated hitman to find and eliminate Thomas. With Thomas on the run from the police and Bishop, he must rely on all his skills to evade captire, find his daughter and defeat Bishop and Cooper once and for all.
Adkins, most recently seen on the big screen in Doctor Strange ( and currently shooting his own comic book adaptation Accident Man, directed by Jesse Johnson) delivers one again. He may be playing an American but he does the UK proud. He’s one of the hardest working men in the business: he acts and he fights (and on Accident Man he’s helping produce as well as co-wrote the script!) and he does them all very well. While some fans seem fixated on him as purely Yuri Boyka from the Undisputed series of films he’s always shown he can play more than that… and in Eliminators we get to see some nice moments where he shows his softer side interacting with his daughter while there’s plenty of action to keep the audience excited.
Stu Bennett makes a solid villain for the film: we know he’s got the physicality but he also shows the potential as an actor. He’s a very calm and collected bad guy, at one point offering a cash reward to two thugs if they do the job for him. We look forward to seeing him in action as the lead in Ross Boyask’s upcoming Vengeance opposite Gary Daniels (Fist of the North Star) and Bryan Larkin (Chasing the Dragon).
The great James Cosmo, veteran of such diverse films as Highlander, Braveheart and Trainspotting, makes a great villain. Playing the vengeance-seeking crime-lord who ultimately just wants his grand daughter to be with him, by any means possible, he demonstrates what a physical presence he still is at the age of 68.
The ever talented Tim Man who handled the fights for Ninja; Shadow of a Tear and Boyka: Undisputed also handles the fights for this one, and he does a very good job of blending the ‘flashy’ moves with the power and reality of the action. He still gives Adkins and Bennett some very nice showcase moves but grounds the action without going ‘full Boyka’ or Ninja. But both men are given plenty of nice action beats and the action component doesn’t disappoint. We look forward to seeing what Man does with the action for Accident Man.
Nunn does a good job with the directing: the film does blend elements of a few classic movies including Assassins, the Bourne series and more and delivers a very entertaining slice of action thriller. I do feel that if they’d been given a bit more time and money we’d have a classic rather than the fun formula we get – but it’s still well worth watching.
Eliminators is out now, released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
