Love Hurts

As the 'dead zone' proceeds in this early part of the year, choosing a film to view and critique sometimes is a chore. One trailer that looked doable was that of "Love Hurts", and after seeing it, it was certainly better than I thought it would be. It's your typical 'bad guys double cross each other, so finding a certain person is imperative in order to make things right in the villain world. What could possibly go wrong?

Ke Huy Quan stars as Marvin Gable, a realtor working the Milwaukee suburbs, where 'For Sale' signs bloom. Gable receives a crimson envelope from Rose Carlisle (Ariana DeBose), a former partner-in-crime that he had left for dead. She's not happy. Now, Marvin is thrust back into a world of ruthless hitmen, filled with double-crosses and open houses turned into deadly war zones. With his brother Alvin "Knuckles" Gable (Daniel Wu), a volatile crime lord, hunting him, Marvin must confront the choices that haunt him and the history he never truly burned. 

Others to round out the cast are Cam Gigandet as Renny Merlo, Mustafa Shakir as The Raven, Lio Tipton as Ashley, Andre Eriksen as Otis, Sean Astin as Cliff Cussick, Rhys Darby as Kippy Betts, Drew Scott as Jeff Zaks and Stephanie Sy as Sherry Reeber.

This was directed by newcomer Jonathan Eusebio (stunt coordination). This filmmaker has walked through that door making the transition from stunt coordinator to working behind the camera. Like Chad Stahelski who made that transition (he directed the 'John Wick' films), others have made that transition as well. Vic Armstrong, Terry Leonard, Hal Needham and others have crossed over to the director's chair. And so, with this background experience, this film was chocked full of incredible stunts. This is to be expected since it is these coordinator's  forte. Eusebio's pacing, staging and high energy, where needed, was spot on, and can certainly see him with future work as both director and stunt coordinator. It was written with rapidity by Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard and Luke Passmore. Even though the emphasis was on the stunts to partially carry this story, it still unfolded as a great high-adrenaline, high-explosive, all with a humorous backdrop that keeps its audience's attention. These writers have approximately the same amount of experience, which isn't a plethora, but certainly enough to write a tense script. Could it be that there were one too many writers? Not sure, but even though it could've been polished a bit more, it was still entertaining, especially with the humor laced throughout the story at just the most effective places. 

Not sure if you want to bring your Valentine's Day sweetie to this considering the language is a bit coarse, since it has a Valentine's backdrop, but it's story keeps you moving. Ke Huy Quan coming off his Oscar for "Everything Everywhere All At Once" was as captivating as his character from Everything... 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                            Rated: R                                            83mins.