★★
To save his pregnant wife, an emergency room nurse teams up with an injured murder suspect in a race against time, rival criminals and renegade cops.
Classification: 15
Tonally inconsistent but maintained by two enjoyable lead performances, Point Blank is a film that can't decide if it wants to be a gritty crime thriller or an action-comedy so tries to do both in hope for a Lethal Weapon-esque result. Director Joe Lynch doesn't really find a good balance and leaves Point Blank, not as a terrible cinematic experience but a rather forgettable adventure. It's plagued by clichés, uninspired plot twists, and a lack of a discernible drive to keep the thriller elements exciting despite the main narrative centring around the abduction of a pregnant woman.
The one element of the film that makes for a fun time is the chemistry and tension between Mackie and Grillo. It's a standard enemy to ally situation as their mutual interests become tied to the central villain of the film but Lynch wisely makes sure that Mackie's character's main focus is always the safety of his wife and not the criminality he's becoming embroiled in. Mackie's compassion is always coming into loggerheads with Grillo's roughness, Lynch plays to the actor's strengths to create drama and levity but the lack of creativity from the script leaves the audience wanting so much more from these performances. The script also creates issues with the supporting performances as Marcia Gay Harden delivers a hackneyed portrayal of a shady detective, but on the flipside, Markice Moore is a great side character who livens up Point Blank's third act as a cinephile crime lord. The best elements of the film are let down by the banality of the script, Moore's comic relief is out of place when intercut with scenes of Teyonah Parris's pregnant character being attacked or tortured because Lynch wants the best of both worlds but without the compelling story to back it up.
One of the disappointing takeaways from Point Blank is the lack of memorable sequences, Lynch has an engaging premise and two performers that can carry a picture but doesn't have anything within the actual film to differentiate it from the rest of the action-thriller genre. The main action thriller sequences of Point Blank could be lifted from other films in the genre, the hospital breakout, the car chase, shootouts, standoffs, nothing really leapt beyond and gave the film a distinctive voice. The most memorable scene was when Grillo carjacks an old lady with a humorous dialogue exchange and it was so good it felt like it belonged in a different film. It is also this platitude in the action, script and direction of the overall story that harms the main tension of the story; the safety of Teyonah Parris's character. Lynch has scenes between her and her captor Christian Cooke, who plays Grillo's brother develop into a more friendly connection as Cooke expresses remorse about his treatment of Parris. As the plot escalates it becomes a more outlandish as Point Blank's treatment of the character seems more focused on keeping the film exciting than keeping the story believable as it descends into predictable B-movie territory.
There's not much to Point Blank beyond the star power of its two leads but the execution of its main dramatic conflict and subsequent tonal inconsistencies even makes that selling point tedious. Mackie and Grillo are a fun pair to see on screen and their interactions in the first half of the film is a good mix between spiteful and amusing with the script giving logical reasoning for the partnerships but then doesn't provide necessary payoffs to its own setups. Lynch clearly wants to carve his own little slice into the crime genre with this American remake but it is let down by a poor script, uninspired characters and story beats and worse of all delivers a climax to his action thriller that doesn't really deliver on either front.
Director: #JoeLynch
Cast: #AnthonyMackie, #FrankGrillo, #MarciaGayHarden, #TeyonahParris, #BorisMcGiver, #ChristianCooke, #MarkiceMoore
Release Date: July 12th 2019
Available exclusively on Netflix
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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