A brutally violent and gritty narrative about a mercenary attempting to rescue a child out of Dhaka, Bangladesh while being hunted by the city’s police and gangsters alike.

The film shines on the shoulders of Chris Hemsworth who provides a skilled performance though one that could have done with some more polishing. While his action scenes and emotional exchanges are great, the story does not really give him any space to be light-hearted. Thus the continuous stream of violence mixed with sad exposition and angry looks gets tiring. Consider John Wick where the violence is about the same but undercut with very dry humor that gives the audience a much needed breather.

This is not to say that the story is poorly paced. On the whole it balances out fast paced single shot scenes with more relaxed slow paced scenes, really well. Unfortunately the slower scenes lack any real substance and as such feel a bit hollow.

The film is surprising in how dark it gets and the options it poses for its characters, it is brave in that it does not protect its characters from the reality of their situations. So much so that it is surprising to see an A-list actor star in it. You would expect that if Jason Statham or The Rock were to lead this film, they would have deprived it off the substance that it does have. In a way I am really glad the MCU exists, it’s given a great range of actors so much money that they can really branch out and take some risky roles. Chris Evans in Knives Out being another example.

All in all, a fun Saturday afternoon action flick from the mind of Joe Russo.