Mel Gibson is John Link, a washed up ex-con and recovering alcoholic who grinds out a meagre existence as a tattoo artist living in a trailer across from his sponsor Kirby (William H.Macy). Link is a hardened but broken man who still keeps the missing poster of his daughter Lydia (Erin Moriarty) in his trailer and has her face tattooed on his body.
When he receives a call out of the blue from Lydia who has put herself in the line of fire of some drug barons he grasps at this chink of light in his otherwise bleak life and when he sees echoes of himself plus traits of similar error making in the person his daughter has become have finds purpose in ensuring that she does not follow his chosen path. After an encounter with some henchmen and an assassin they need to go on the run which begins a very dangerous road trip which becomes a bonding session or sorts until his daughter is kidnapped and Link becomes a one man avenging angel who will stop at nothing to save his daughter and find some redemption for his past errors.
With Peter Craig, who wrote the book working on the screenplay and as a co-producer it was always going to be a reasonably faithful adaptation and director Jean Francois Richer, who brought us the entertaining remake of Assault on Precinct 13 and the classic French film Mesrine, has managed to create a low budget, Grindhouse feel to the film without making it look cheap in terms of the stunts or effects so the simplicity in tone suits the premise of the film. Gibson isn’t some super hero with a huge arsenal of guns hidden away, he’s a man with nothing to lose who is given a final chance to make a difference and atone for his errors in life and must rely on his street smarts and some favours from old criminal contacts to survive.
While the story line may feel familiar, and it is, with many echoes of Taken in particular, it also felt like a confessional for Gibson, echoing his apologies for his off screen antics with a performance full of guilt and regret yet searching for redemption. Grizzled, haggard yet looking bulked up, his performance has some great moments of classic Gibson performances. He is this movie, everything else is secondary and when he is not on screen the film slips back into mediocrity but to see him threaten somebody and look like he means it, then switch to a man full of compassion when dealing with his daughter is an art and it felt like the actor we all knew is still there, which was great to see.
The movie does suffer from the fact that, Gibson aside, the characters in the movie weren’t given much to shine with. Even Moriarty who has the biggest character arc plays second fiddle and when the movie is not focused on Gibson it suffers a lot of drag and even luminaries of the screen like Macy and Parks can’t help liven it up despite their best efforts.
If you want to see a, been there, seen it and have worn the t-shirt action revenge movie then this will keep you entertained. If you want something deep and thought provoking then leave it be but I can highly recommend that you watch this movie for one reason only, the return of the Mel Gibson we love as this could so easily have been a throw away film without his charisma and presence elevating it to another level.
DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10
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