Section 8, 2022.
Directed by Christian Sesma. Ryan Kwanton, Dolph Lundgren, Dermot Mulroney, Scott Adkins, Mickey Rourke, Justin Furstenfeld, Maurice Compe, Tracy Perez, Robert Lazardo, Paul Sloan, Jeffrey Blake, Mary Christina Brown, Kimmy Alexander, Brandon Burrows, Robert Lennon, Robert Levon, Jay Montal. and Steven S. Seifer.
Summary:
After avenging his family's murder, an ex-soldier is released from prison and hired by a shadowy government agency.
There are many recent films that deliberately soften the atmosphere with a troubled hero, whose crimes are ultimately justified by circumstances and deeply benign. This is usually a disappointing catch, suggesting that filmmakers are afraid to take real risks when creating controversial anti-heroes.
Episode 8 (directed by Christian Sesma and written by Chad Lowe and Josh Ridgeway) attempts to answer this criticism by at least detailing the first crimes.
Ryan Kwanton plays Jack Atherton, an honorably discharged US soldier who works in an auto repair shop with his uncle Earl (Mickey Rourke) to support his wife and children (Kimmy Alexander and Justin Furstenfeld). . Huns have money.
Episode 8 is an awkwardly racist film (at least before the rest devolves into a typical onslaught of action scenes) from the prelude to the war to the present day, when a group of figuratively tattooed Mexican gangsters enter a begging shop. This quickly leads to the murder of Jack's mother and son, as a result of which he quickly goes gangbusters and kills everyone who attended the party in a nearby nightclub. Of course, Jake will be thrown into prison.
If the premise had been done carefully and logically, the opening of Episode 8 would have been extremely promising, unlike his friends who prefer a villainous, hero-friendly approach. However, the script lazily tells us all so that the story shifts to the mysterious Sam Ramsay (Dermot Mulroney) who recruits Jake for the title program, a private government group that works with the worst, especially those selling government secrets.
In the year Besides being a very formulaic plot in 2022 (most of us were hit with Gray Man two months ago), the narrative lacks any compelling ideas to twist the concept. The rest of the film is reduced to a series of routine missions where Jack shows a lot of sensitivity and warmth as he is ordered to be a useless killing machine. This proves that he is slow and I am sure you all know what is going on then.
Another contract killer (Scott Adkins) is brought on board (no major plot point) and while his body makes up for some good fight scenes, Episode 8 is still taking lifeless action. There are some confusing and nonsensical scenes along the way, such as Jack grieving for his dead wife and having sex. Dolph Lundgren also appears as Jack's former military superior, which fits the plot with Ultor's predictable intentions.
The eighth act is so clever and telegraphed that the filmmakers twist it three times at the end, but the audience asks the same question Jack asks, "Why didn't you tell me?" Well, I'll tell you now, even if you're a fan of the late Scott Adkins, Episode 8 is so unpleasant that it's worth putting up with five minutes of that disgusting general stench without even shaking your head.
Rating bright fairy tale – movie: ★ / movie: ★ ★
Robert Kosder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Association. He is also the editor of Flickering Myth Review. Stay tuned here for more feedback, follow me on Twitter or LetterboxD, or email me at [email protected].
