Dead or Alive: Wanted Man (2024) Review

Director: Dolph Lundgren

Notable Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Christina Villa, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Pare, Roger Cross, Aaron McPherson, Rocko Reyes, James Pulido, Jose Trujillo

 

Dolph Lundgren made his directorial comeback with the highly entertaining Castle Falls back in 2021, and for an action fan like me, it was a welcome comeback. I’ve always been that one guy who defended Dolph’s directorial efforts, and now that he’s back behind the camera, I’m there. With his latest action thriller venture, Wanted Man, Lundgren is trying to balance classic action tropes and a slightly more modern (and, dare I say, socio-politically charged?) narrative. The result is an entertaining mixture of gun blasts, small-scale thrills, and a surprisingly compelling character arc for an older man trying to be better. 

 

After a relatively cliche opening, something found regularly in lower-budget action thrillers, where a drug deal goes south and leaves some DEA agents iced in the morgue, Wanted Man immediately goes into crafting the lead character that the audience will be partnering with for the run of the movie. Dolph, naturally, plays an aging Detective in Texas who, we quickly learn, has been revealed as a racist cop for viciously beating a Mexican suspect on camera.

Find Your Peace-eria: The Equalizer 3 (2023)

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Notable Cast: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Gaia Scodellaro, David Denman, Eugenio Mastrandrea, Remo Girone, Daniele Perrone, Andrea Scarduzio, Andrea Dodero, Giovanni Scotti, Melissa Leo, Sonia Ammar

 

Over the last 30 years, the relative variety of films that Antoine Fuqua has made that exist within the realm of action/thriller/crime has been fairly impressive. Does anyone remember that he made a historical flick with Will Smith called Emancipation last year? Probably not, since it went to Apple and subsequently died a forgotten death, but he did. Yes, he made one of those too. Yet, the only real “franchise” he has repeatedly returned to is The Equalizer, the modern update of the 1980s television show featuring his frequent collaborator Denzel Washington. 

 

Finding relative success with the first two entries, it’s no shock that The Equalizer 3 was on the docket for some time in the future even if Denzel is starting to show his age at 68. Trilogies are not easy to pull off, but the first two entries have only grown on me since their releases as they are kind of Charles Bronson meets John Woo melodramatic slices of action cinema. Thus, my expectations - even mediated - were elevated for this threequel. 

 

The Equalizer 3 is a perplexing puzzle, though. Despite being the shortest film in the series (by at least 15 minutes) and featuring the least complicated story and plot, it’s trying to do a lot and rarely managing to find its identity in doing so. It’s making many bold choices compared to its predecessors, changing up the film's tone a smidge, fully taking Denzel’s Robert McCall character out of Boston, and it doesn’t necessarily land where it needs to thematically or what it's setting up for the character. Despite some highly entertaining moments elevated by the Oscar-winning actor, The Equalizer 3 rarely feels equalized in its balance, and it leaves the trilogy feeling a tad underwhelming. 

 

Possessor (2020)

Director: Brandon Cronenberg

Notable Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rossif Sutherland, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean

 

When Brandon Cronenberg exploded on the scene with his debut feature-length film, Antiviral, he firmly launched a bright red flare into the night sky. I am here. The Cronenberg name is in good hands. However, the length of time between that film and his latest, Possessor, stated something else. Perhaps the strength of that debut was a fluke? Now that Possessor has found a small, but dedicated theatrical release through Neon and Well Go USA, it becomes apparent that the time between films was worth it. Possessor is an incredible piece of in-depth, harrowing cinema. It’s a film where the intensity of its atmosphere is only matched by its bursts of abrasive violence and stark visuals. Brandon Cronenberg has delivered a modern horror film that matches some of the best work of his father, a true high-water mark, and Possessor is truly a statement film.

 

Mile High Horror Film Festival 2020: Don't Click (2020)

Director: G-Hey Kim

Notable Cast: Valter Skarsgard, Mark Koufos, Catherine Howard, May Grehan, Samantha Hart, Ry Barrett

 

There is a sense of discovery to watching films at a film festival. Perhaps films that have not been seen before or ones that have completely flown under the radar for the majority of film watchers. Unless you work for one of the major news outlets, more than likely there is going to be a handful of intriguing discoveries made while attending a film festival. Mile High Horror Film Festival is no different. It’s been a handful of years since I had the pleasure of attending this one and while 2020 has certainly made it a wholly unique virtual experience, once again it’s a place to find unique films. Don’t Click is the first of such films. While the film occasionally suffers from its limited budget and other hit or miss elements, it’s also a film that takes a wild swing in trying to combine a plethora of lofty ideas while simultaneously injecting a bit of social commentary into the mix. It’s an intriguing combination that proves to be the perfect kind of film festival discovery.

 

Horrible Imaginings Film Festival: Luz: the Flower of Evil (2020)

Directed by: Juan Diego Escobar Alzate

Notable cast: Conrado Osorio, Andrea Esquival, Yuri Vargas, Sharon Guzman

 

There is a dreamlike quality to Luz: The Flower of Evil that many films aspire to and never quite achieve. In the effortless fashion of a David Lynch or Jodorowsky, Luz creates a world with internal, consistent logic that is both horribly familiar and terrifyingly alien. Every frame of it looks like an oil painting, like a sort of perverse lost Norman Rockwell “Hidden Columbian Religious Cult” collection. It’s almost hard to even call Luz a horror movie in a modern sense of the term, as it owes more to something like the original Wicker Man or The Holy Mountain than anything even close to a slasher movie. It means that it evokes a different kind of horror, something existential.

 

Savage (2019)

Director: Cui Siwei
Notable Cast: Chang Chen, Liao Fan, Ni Ni, Guangjie Li, Huang Jue

The harsh tundra of Mount Baekdu in China is the backdrop for one of 2019's biggest surprises thus far, the taut, relentless crime thriller that is Savage.

Wang Kanghao (Chang Chen) is a detective who has been posted to work at a smaller town in the mountainous region, which has been in a swift economic decline since the banning of logging in their local forestry went into effect some years prior to his arrival. Instead of tending to the possible minute local disputes as one would imagine goes on in a town of its size, Wang instead finds himself thrust quickly into a deadly situation as a trio of outlaws rob a passing truck full of gold bars. What ensues is a blood-soaked, frostbitten descent into hell.

I'm Flash! (2012)

Director: Toshiaki Toyoda

Notable Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ryuhei Matsuda, Kiko Mizuhara, Shigeru Nakano, Kento Nagayama, Itsuji Itao, Yukiya Kitamura

Toshiaki Toyoda is a filmmaker whose body of work I have only explored the early stages of. Having seen his first four features and being a fan of each: Pornostar ('98), Unchain ('00), Blue Spring ('02), and 9 Souls ('03), I think I have a good grip on what I like about the man and what makes his works click for me. He has a plethora of interesting characters in every narrative and his anarchic sensibilities lead to this brisk and punk in your face mentality that lends itself to some very memorable cinema. I'm Flash!, a later work in the auter's oeuvre, is no different than his early outings in this regard and is filled with the same chaotic energy that attracted me to his works in the first place. Age hasn't extinguished that fiery spirit whatsoever. I'm Flash! easily stands alongside the director's early gems.

Nocturama (2016)

Director: Bertrand Bonello

Notable Cast: Finnegan Oldfield, Vincent Rottiers, Hamza Meziani, Manal Issa, Martin Guyot, Jamil McCraven, Rabah Nait Oufella, Laure Valentinelli, Ilias le Dore, Robin Goldbronn

Aside from some alluring production stills of the film and the nicely designed poster, as seen above, I knew absolutely nothing going into Nocturama, and perhaps for the better. It is a slow burn thriller that greatly reflects the aspect of modern society that matters most, the youth. Without going into personal beliefs and opinions, there is no question that time always moves forward so it is inevitable that the youth will always one day raise up and carry on where those before them left off, and it has always been that way. This film explores a very scary and real look at an abstract mindset in some of those minds today that look to change the world.

Neomanila (2017)

Director: Mikhail Red
Notable Cast: Eula Valdez, Timothy Castillo, Rocky Salumbides, Jess Mendoza

OSAKA ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2018:

Being only his third feature, with a ripe 25 years of life under his belt, Mikhail Red is quickly making his name as one of the hottest Asian filmmakers to look out for, particularly with his previous work, Birdshot, being selected as The Philippines entry to last year's Oscar's Foreign Language competition. Young, yes, but there is no doubt that Red is a cinematic force to be reckoned with, and there is no question in my mind that if Neomanila is presented to the right set of eyeballs, it is bound to become an international hit. Going toe-to-toe with the giant industry known for cranking out the best modern thrillers, South Korea, Red and his crew crafts one of the finest thrillers to emerge out of Asia in many years.

The Prison (2017)

Director: Na Hyeon
Notable Cast: Kim Rae-won, Han Suk-kyu, Lee Kyoung-young, Jung Woong-in, Jo Jae-yun, Shin Sung-rok,Kim Sung-kyun

My first Korean film experience of 2017 is one of my favorites of the year so far, by way of the hard-hitting crime thriller, The Prison. Yoo-geon (Kim Rae-won), a once was detective, finds himself entering one of the roughest prisons on his side of the world to approach its king, Ik-ho (Han Suk-kyu), the untouchable man with more power than I've ever seen anyone have behind bars. Yoo-geon's agenda is unclear at first, but as the film carries on and unfolds over the following 2 hours, the pieces come together and reveal one of my favorite finales in recent memory.

We Are the Flesh (2017)

Director: Emiliano Rocha Minter

Notable Cast: Noé Hernández, María Evoli, Diego Gamaliel, Gabino Rodríguez

There are a lot of words and phrases that can be used to describe We Are the Flesh. Disturbing. Mind boggling. Abrasive. Grotesque. Thought provoking. Surrealistic. Confusing. Ungrounded. Visually provocative. Awkward. Shocking. Darkly humorous. Impeccably performed. Edgy. Atmospheric. Gratuitous. The list goes on. Yet, for good or bad in its execution of its vague concepts and even more vague plotting, there is only one phrase that aptly counts for what We Are the Flesh is as a film: an instant cult classic. Just as it was intended, I assume. This, in turn, leaves me a little torn on how I feel about the film. If anything, if you are intrigued by the series of words above, then this film could possibly be one of the better films you see this year. It’s a film that takes a lot of chances and for that I have to give it mad respect. It’s also a film that could leave a viewer frustrated with its lacking foundations, an approach that is what left me a little cold to the entire thing.