While we wait for Scott Adkins to return as Yuri Boyka in Undisputed 4, Impact takes a look at two of Scott’s most recent projects.. Our Hong Kong editor Mike Leeder sat down for a double bill of Home Invasion and Jarhead 3 to bring us the following reviews…
Home Invasion
Natasha Henstridge, Scott Adkins and Jason Patric star in a movie directed by David Tennant! (No, it’s sadly not Doctor Who‘s David Tennant, this is a Canadian director who worked on the short lived Painkiller Jane series), with a screenplay by Peter Sullivan (Chupcabra Vs the Alamo!).
It’s a rainy night on a secluded island community when terror comes knocking at the front door. Chloe (Henstridge) and her stepson (Liam Dickinson) are at home when trouble arrives in the shape of a trio of expert thieves. Heflin (Scott Adkins), Victoria (Kyra Zagorsky) and Astor (Michael Rogers) who want something hidden within the mansion. Chloe’s only life-line is the online security systems specialist (Jason Patric), but can she trust him to be her eyes and navigate her and her stepson to safety as the intruders try to find them.
Firstly…. yes, it’s a riff on Panic Room (and I do wish they were in a slightly larger house!). While Scott Adkins is in the movie, he doesn’t throw a jump spinning kick and Natasha Henstridge does keep her clothes on! However, its a pretty good thriller and the idea of having her only life-line being the distant home security operator, while the police try to reach them, works well. It’s been done before, but its worth checking out as long as you’re not expecting a non-stop martial arts action flick.
Apart from the Panic Room comparison, the villains arrive wearing Purge styled carnival masks and Adkins makes his entrance riffing on a certain Michael Caine quote from the original Italian Job and seems to be channeling a bit of Gary Oldman circa Leon: The Professional and Romeo is Bleeding. As much as I love seeing the man let loose martial arts wise, he’s always delivered as an actor and it’s a solid turn he gives in the film. (Don’t worry folks, Undisputed 4 is coming soon! He’ll kick his ass off in that one!).
It may be more than 20 years since she wowed us with her looks in Species and Maximum Risk, but Henstridge still looks great and has grown into a solid actress. Here she has an interesting arc: she isn’t the screaming ‘damsel in distress’ and she doesn’t turn into an ass-kicking fighter. She fights to survive only when there is no other choice. Kyra Zagorsky works well as the villain Victoria and Michael Rogers makes the most of his role as the tech guy on the break-in. The kid – Liam Dickinson – isn’t grating and the relationship between him and his stepmother is nicely played – they come together out of circumstance and get to know each-other as they try to stay ahead of the villains. While Jason Patric (from Lost Boys, Narc and less memorably Speed 2: Cruise Control) makes the most of his turn, he’s a man with a job to do…and what’s nice is they don’t throw in some unnecessary backstory for his character, which makes it more believable.
Congratulations to the writer and director for making the plot work: they set up the isolation of Natasha and the kid believably (it’s a stormy night, it’s a gated community that you can only gain entry to via one method etc) and they don’t turn the film into a mad action flick. Ultimately, it’s entertaining and delivers, without demanding too much from the viewer.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PStbGXXZDvU
Jarhead 3: The Siege
While the original Jarhead with Jake Gylenhall was far from being anything like a conventional ‘action’ flick, the subsequent sequels have upped that element while maintaining a certain amount of the black humour. The latest installment Jarhead 3: The Siege really delivers with Saints & Sinners director William Kaufman at the helm, working from a screenplay by Chad Law (Six Bullets, Close Range). Charlie Weber (How to Get Away with Murder) is the lead with Scott Adkins and Dennis Haysbert (Navy Seals, 24) lending very strong support.
Weber plays Evan Albright an elite Marine who joined the armed services to save the world, but is struggling to come to terms with having to be a team player. His first assignment sees him sent to guard the US Embassy in a seemingly safe Middle Eastern country. At first his duties seem limited to dealing with peaceful protesters and working on his marksmanship by playing video games. But when well-trained militants launch an attack on the embassy, it’s up to Albright, Gunnie and their men to muster their courage and firepower and rage a deadly war within the embassy confines.
I love the original Jarhead , and will admit I haven’t seen the first sequel, largely as I thought the idea of turning that movie into an action movie wouldn’t work. How could you retain any of the feel from the first film if you simply wanted to up the action ante? Well, after seeing Part 3, I will have to check out the first sequel. Yes… this is far more driven by action than the character analysis and askew-look at military life that drove the original film. However Chad Law’s script and William Kaufman’s direction manage to maintain a certain amount of the sardonic feel of the first film, while adding plenty of action to the mix.
The film opens with a stylish training sequence (reminiscent of the first film) which tells us all we need to know about Albright: he’s highly-skilled but he’s a loner. We know that he’s gonna have to use those skills to survive while adapting somewhat to become a team player. Weber comes across well, and with the right projects could make quite the action hero.
Scott Adkins seems to be enjoying himelf as the Master Sargeant, veteran of various wars who recognises something in Albright that perhaps reminds him of himself. It’s a good supporting role for Adkins and we do get to see him unleashing a bit of his physicality when we see him working a heavy bag while his men train. He looks good in uniform – someone give him a full on military action movie to headline – where he can do the unarmed and armed combat to full effect.
Truthfully, Dennis Haysbert is more of an extended cameo – he spends most of the film on his way to bring in reinforcements to the besieged embassy, but he never gives a bad performance. The seemingly ageless Dante Basco (from The Perfect Weapon and The Chang Family Saves The World) pops up as a nerdy embassy worker. British actress Sasha Jackson cuts a memorable turn as Olivia Winston… who you all know is going to be more than the secretarial figure she’s originally introduced as.
Tech credits are good and the action and stunt work, while not as high octane as it could have been, is effectively handled. Kaufman is very much a director to watch out for, and here’s hoping he soon gets to deliver the long awaited Saints & Sinners 2.
After the opening triple blow of it not being that David Tennant, Henstridge keeping her clothes on and Scott Adkins doesn’t jump spin kick anyone I would never have thought that by the end of that review I would actually be intrigued about watching Home Invasion.
Jarhead on the other hand, I think that’s a film that should have been left alone, maybe when it’s on Netflix I’ll give it a go because of Adkins.