Cast: Stephen Lang, Scottie Thompson, Chris Mullinax,
Johnny Yong Bosch, Dolph Lundgren, Michael Sirow, Harvey Keitel
Back in the late 00s and the early 10s, if you wanted to
find great old school action, you would scan the internet for Isaac Florentine.
His ‘straight-to-video’ (a term that essentially doesn’t exist thanks to
streaming now) affairs were some of the best you could find. His work with classic icons like Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme was fun, and his
partnership with Scott Adkins defined that era for incredible action. I’d still
argue that Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is one of the greatest action films
ever made, and I will absolutely fight you if you disagree.
However, Florentine’s career has been much rockier lately.
Some of this is due to trying some new styles, working in slightly different
genres, or partnering with different stars, but it felt like some of the shine
was being dulled. It culminated in Hounds of War, an ultimately droll
affair with Frank Grillo on autopilot and horrendous editing and action design
that felt completely out of sync with what one expects from a Florentine flick.
Thus, my expectations for Hellfire were relatively
muted. Sure, it has a hell of a cast, including Stephan Lang as the special ops
veteran caught in the criminal web of a small town, but even that was not
necessarily as exciting as I hoped for. Yet, while Hellfire certainly
struggles to find some of its voice in the first 45 minutes and really loves to
hammer down on those straight-to-VOD action tropes, it is something of a bounce
back for Florentine. Its foundations are solid, the main performances - even if
tropey - feel engaged, and the back end of the film really starts rollicking
once tensions of its generic script finally pop. By the end, I was totally
engulfed by the fun and surprising moments that Hellfire was delivering.
Enough so that there’s a part of me that hopes Florentine has found his new
franchise in the wandering warrior that Stephan Lang is bringing to the
table.
However, despite my overall positive takeaways from Hellfire,
the film struggles to find its footing in its first half. The entire plot of
the outsider who comes into a town and finds it to be a bed of absolute
corruption and injustice is as old as most stories. The small town vibes, the
downtrodden townsfolk, the evil overlords - in this case, a rich family who is
running drugs through the town, and even some of the basic characters, are all
going to be very familiar to viewers. Even those who don’t watch a lot of
action thrillers. Its characters are fairly stock, and even when Lang initially
shows up, it feels a tad bland.
And truthfully, Hellfire takes far too long to get
moving. It introduces a lot of characters, builds layers into the family that bring
Lang’s character into the fold to do some maintenance on the rundown building,
but it’s very sluggish. There’s plenty of building blocks here, including a
rather phoned in performance by Harvey Keitel and a wildly underused Dolph
Lundgren as the small town sheriff on the baddies payroll (seriously, they
didn’t give him NEARLY enough to do as we know he can kill one of those cameo
roles), but by the 45 minute mark I was looking at my watch.
However, like so many other films, you gotta finish it. Too many films are saved by the third act, and Hellfire is absolutely one of those. Once Stephen Lang lets loose and starts to act on his character's strengths, the film really flows, and Florentine gets to shine in his element as a director. The film takes some wild turns and twists - including how it wraps up the townsfolk plot lines - and the action starts to really kick in. Whether it’s the gun blasting chase through an abandoned building or a slick kitchen fight that has Lang getting to show a bit of his knife skills, suddenly Hellfire has a bit of fire under its butt.
However, this film gets a solid bonus half-star when Lang’s
drifter character has to take on the big henchman of the film, played by Johnny
Yong Bosch. Bosch might be best known to readers of this site as one of the
original Power Rangers, but others will mostly know him for his voice work in
classic anime like Bleach and Trigun. Still, he’s an accomplished martial
artist, and Florentine uses him expertly in the film with his cold assassin
vibes and stunning fight with Lang in the final act. Seriously, the fight was
so much fun and well-choreographed that it might end up being one of my
favorite action sequences of the year. The entire film is worth watching just
for this fight.
Thus, by the time the credits were rolling, I was totally
into Hellfire. Sure, it’s a struggle bus puttering down the road for its
first chunk, but it manages to redeem itself impressively by the end of the
film. The second half feels like classic Florentine in full, and there’s a part
of my soul that cries for the Hellfire franchise to be born. Hell, have
Lang fight every Power Ranger. Have him take down full mafias. Have him go to
Japan. Let him fight the Predator. At this point, I’ll take it all. Hellfire
might not be the most cohesive film overall, but the ending is worth
watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment