Reviewed August 19, 2021
Time loop films are fun when done well, and honestly most of the big ones have been done well (Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow for example). This is in that same vein, only instead of comedy/drama and action/drama, this one is straight up action/comedy, which is a nice twist on it (yes, I know it’s not that huge but it works ok). Frank Grillo’s Roy is a retired special forces guy that wakes up in an endless loop of wacky mercenaries trying to kill him, and he slowly begins to piece together what’s happening. It’s quite fun for the genre. Discussion below.
The Bad:
- Frank Grillo and Naomi Watts had basically no chemistry, and I think it’s on Grillo’s end. He just isn’t good at the romance side of acting yet. Killed the mood for the scenes with him and his ex-wife
- I know this kind of movie really needs to follow a formula, but it felt like a straight rip-off of Groundhog Day, with him taking the time to learn particular skills. Yep, this is a standard thing but the tone of it felt like that movie and the piano playing in particular.
- Man those blood effects were awful, guessing by design.
The Good:
- Frank Grillo, action and comedy star, was fantastic in this. Hand-to-hand, gunplay, sword-fighting, all done really well. And his jokes and comedic timing were on-point.
- The writing is a big reason for the high rating. Is it perfect, nah. But there’s enough clever situations and uses of characters and background props to keep it innovative even as days repeat themselves, and stuff you might dismiss early on becomes useful later, although some foreshadowing is very obvious (Michelle Yeoh as a sword-fighting champion and one of the mercs keeps decapitating him, yeah…). And it twists and turns enough to stay fresh as it goes on, such as making him want to spend time with his son since he got to “the end” and couldn’t stop the destruction, only to then pivot and realize he COULD save his ex and thus the world, creating new plans and uses for early situations like the chopper attack. You HAVE to have good writing to make a time loop work.
- The colorful cast of assassins, especially Selina Lo as Guan Yin (Guan Yin has done this!) and Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans as the “German Twins”. The entire sequence with the Hitler pistol was unnecessary but added great flavor to the psychotic nature of the killers.
- The early clue he was being tracked due to the interference he was giving off with the tooth, and then the whole ordeal of finding and removing the tooth.
- Ken Jeong is a funny man even in a limited role
- Michelle Yeoh is a goddess and does a great job here too
- The brutal early movie nihilism of nothing mattering, til he decides to get over himself and start fighting back fully.
- So Grillo has a great connection to Joe, his son…cause it’s actually his real son (at least it seems so via the credits). The video game montage was a wholesome bit of character growth and a nice homage to fathers and sons playing video games, like this movie basically is.
- Roy narrating “Boss Level” and then pulling out the minigun and wrecking fools
So yeah, enjoyed it for what it was, and for a time loop film it did a great job methinks. Definitely an enjoyable action/comedy romp.
Getting Reel with Mr. Sunshine 