Levon Cade (Jason Statham) left his "profession" behind to live a simple life working construction and spending time with his daughter. But when his boss, Joe Garcia's (Michael Pena) teenager daughter, Jenny (Arianna Rivas) vanishes, he's called upon to re-employ the skills that made him a legendary figure in the shadowy world of black ops, Levon's hunt for the missing college student takes him to the heart of a sinister criminal conspiracy creating a chain reaction that will threaten his new way of life.
Others to round out the cast are Jason Flemyng as Wolo Kolisnyk, Merae Ninioze as Yuri, Maximilian Osinski as Dimi Kolisnyk, Cokey Falkow as Dougie, David Harbour as Gunny Lefferty, Noemi Gonzalez as Carla Garcia, wife of Joe, Isle Gie as Merry Cade, Levon's daughter, Emmett J Scanlan as Viper and Eve Mauro as Artemis.
This was directed by the action king David Ayer ("Harsh Rimes" '05, "Street Kings" '08, "End of Watch" '12, "Sabotage"'14, "Fury" '14, "Suicide Squad" '16, "Bright" '17, "The Tax Collector" '20, "The Beekeeper" '24) plus TV, music videos and a video. By his very resume, one can see that this filmmaker is right in his comfort zone. His heroes/anti-heroes are always cold and austere--almost steely, and truly not into being chatty. But this is why we like them so much--a kind of 'make my day' kind of character just there to beat the bad guys and save the day, and Ayer is simply king at this. It is written with intensity, grit and laced with explosive energy by Sylvester Stallone ("Rocky" '76, "F.I.S.T." '78, "Rocky II" '79, "Rocky III" '82, "First Blood" '82, "Rocky IV" '85, "Cobra" '86, "Rocky V" '90, "Cliffhanger" '93, "Driven" '01, "Rocky Balboa" '06, "Rambo" '08, "The Extendables" '10, "The Expendables 2" '12, "Homefront" '13, "The Expendables 3" '14, "Creed II" '18, "Rambo: Last Blood" '19) plus other films, TV, videos and video games, and David Ayer ("U-571" 2000, "The Fast and the Furious" '01, "Training Day" '01, "Dark Blue" '02, "S.W.A.T." '03, "Harsh Times" '05, "End of Warch" '12, "Sabotage" '14, "Fury" '14, "Suicide Squad" '16, "The Tax Collector" '20) plus TV and a short, based on the book, "Levon's Trade" by Chuck Dixon. Even though Kurt Wimmer wrote "The Beekeeper", this film has some fairly similar traits to the formats involved. As aforementioned, these films can be similar, but they are a great form of escapism at its finest. Considering these two writers are consummate in their being able to write an amazing action yarn is incredible--but it helps considering their plethora of writing experience.
Certainly if you liked "The Beekeeper", you'll love this. A similar format as 'Beekeeper', but the the script was cohesive, tight, and sure-footed. I'm not sure, but, assuming this film makes a ton of money, there could be a sequel out of this. We'll see. Lots of money--sequel, not enough money--no sequel. This is true escapism replete with explosions, adrenaline and even some humor.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: R 117mins.