Dead Reckoning
Ratings: 3.2/5
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Producers: Mark Donadio, Miriam Marcus, Andrzej Bartkowiak, Jeffrey Bowler
Genre: Action Thriller
Language: English
Release Date: 13 November 2020
Released In: Theatres
Star Cast: Scott Adkins, James Remar, India Eisley, K.J. Apa, Leah Procito, Ellie Cornell, Sydney Park, Devon Diep, Angela Hurley, Christopher Foley, Arthur Hiou, Allie Marshall, Anastasia Tsikhanava, Joseph Ramah, Andrea Kostovick
Plot:
During a picturesque summer on the Nantucket coast, Niko and Tillie are living the dream of a summer romance. However, when Niko's terrorist brother comes to the United States, Niko must pit himself against his own family in order to protect the woman he loves and thousands of innocent people.
Review:
The film by Andrzej Bartkowiak, the legendary cinematographer behind Speed and films helmed by the likes of Sidney Lumet and Joel Schumacher, and director of guilty pleasures Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 The Grave is unfortunately a disaster!
Starting off, it doesn’t do justice to it is action-thriller genre instead there’s absolute not enough thrill to back it up.
Kristin Alexandre and A. Wayne Carter’s writing tries hard to make us believe in urgency and trouble mounting on the characters which don’t come through. The kind of performances and plotting in Dead Reckoning has set this film up to fail miserably.
Veteran actor James Remar, Ellie Cornell, young actors India Eisley, K.J.Apa and martial arts star Scott Adkins have made it for an age variable cast. As far as location, there’s this beautiful setting of Nantucket Island, home to The Muse, where Dave Matthews Band recorded “Ants Marching” and “Tripping Billies” for Remember Two Things.
There’s a prologue about a bombing and Agent Cantrell’s (Remar) subsequent attempted arrest of the bomber. Across town, Marco (Adkins) sits at a bar, glaring at a TV as an FBI official gives a statement of the bomber- Marco’s father being slain, thus prompting him to take revenge on the FBI official on TV, not Cantrell. The script is drowsy and superficial to another extent.
The film’s tagline ‘Two loyalties. One choice’, may set us up for this film, but it does not go deeper than a cheesy profession of love.
The film just like the real-life disaster is centred on, is one itself from a technical and narrative standpoint. Dead Reckoning lands solidly in the middle range of films as the good and bad elements balances out. It is a mid-range independent thriller, and the big effects and stunts look bigger than they actually are which goes to the smart editing.
Dead Reckoning is supposedly inspired by the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The film’s themes of brotherhood, friendship, and loyalty do very little justice in the manner that it has been incorporated in the script.
