Article 8 , 2022.
Directed by Christian Sesma.
Cast: Ryan Kwanten, Dolph Lundgren, Dermot Mulroney, Scott Adkins, Mickey Rourke, Justin Furstenfeld, Maurice Compt, Tracey Perez, Robert Lasardo, Paul Sloan, Jeffrey Blake, Mary Christina Brown, Kimi Alexander, Brandon Burroughs, Robertika Laenen, Jay Montalvo other. Stephen S. Sefer.
SUMMARY :
After avenging the murder of his family, a former soldier is released from prison and recruited by the shadow government.
There is a sizable list of recent films where the protagonist is deliberately problematic, ultimately to soften the blow that the crimes they commit were committed under justifiable circumstances and drain empathy deep within. All in all, it's a disappointing lure and transition, suggesting that the filmmakers are afraid to take any real risk when creating controversial anti-heroes.
Section 8 (directed by Christian Sesma, based on a screenplay by Chad Lowe and Josh Ridgway) tries to answer these accusations by showing at least the original crimes in perfect detail.
Ryan Kwanten plays honorably discharged American soldier Jake Atherton, who is now struggling to make ends meet to support his wife and son (Kimi Alexander and Justin Furstenfeld) and his uncle Earl (Mickey Rourke) at a garage job. auto repair shop in New York and owed money to the mafia.
Section 8 is an uncomfortably racist film (at least before others plunge into an avalanche of generic action scenes), from a military prologue to the present day, in which a group of stereotypical tattooed Mexican mobsters walk into a store asking questions. This quickly leads to the deaths of Jake's mother and son, causing him to quickly explode and kill everyone involved in the nearby nightclub. Of course, Jake gets thrown into jail.
Had the premise been implemented carefully and logically, Phase 8 would have started off very promisingly, aside from its peers who prefer a cleaner, more protagonist-friendly approach. However, the script says it's all weird, so the story could go as far as the enigmatic Sam Ramsey (Dermot Mulroney) recruiting Jake into the main program, an unofficial government faction that deals with the worst of the worst, especially those sold by the state. secrets.
Aside from being the most clichéd story of 2022 (many of us were hit by The Gray Man two months ago), the narrative lacks any intriguing ideas to spice up the concept. The rest of the film is reduced to a series of regular missions where Jake shows great empathy and heart when he is ordered to be a useless killing machine. This shows it's a flaw and I'm sure everyone knows what's going on from there.
Another hitman (Scott Adkins) is hired to kill Jake (no original thought here), and while his physique is fit for some decent action scenes, Section 8 still goes through lifeless motions. There are several confusing and nonsensical scenes along the way, such as Jake hallucinating a sex scene while mourning the loss of his dead wife. Dolph Lundgren also plays ex-military chief Jake and fits into the story with predictable ulterior motives.
The eighth part is so boring and telegraphed that the filmmakers do a triple turn in the finale, but the audience will be asking the same question as Jake: "Why didn't you tell me?" Well, I'll tell you right now, even if you did, you're a diehard fan of Scott Adkins, Section 8 is disgusting, and even five minutes of brainstorming isn't worth putting up with that nasty generic stench.
Rating Brilliant Myth – Movie: ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Coider is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics' Choice Association. He is also the editor of Flickering Myth Reviews. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or email or email me at [email protected]
