I Am Vengeance: Retaliation
Directed by: Ross Boyask
Starring: Stu Bennet, Vinnie Jones, Katrina Durden, Jessica Jane-Stafford, Joe Egan, Jean-Paul ly, David Schaal, Phoebe Robinson-Galvin
Following the events of I AM VENGEANCE, John Gold finds himself being brought back into a special forces unit to apprehend Sean Teague, a previous associate who betrayed John's unit and got them all killed. Leading a small team, he is able to catch Teague but finds himself at odds with an unknown, highly skilled assassin who wants to kill the prisoner. Not only that, but Teague's gang of mercenaries aren't far behind….
I Am Vengeance was a great BRITISH action movie - not big budget but it was filled with some great action, a solid lead in Stu Bennet and a great villain in Gary Daniels, one of his best performances in years. As with most sequels, Vengeance 2 aims to be bigger - but is it better? Or is it going to succumb to the law of diminishing returns?
Again directing from his own script, Ross Boyask knows film and can riff of ideas like no one else. The concept of the opening reminded me a hell of a lot of Roger Moore's introduction in The Wild Geese, for example - but unlike Tarantino he's not rubbing your face in his esoteric film collection. I am Vengeance 2 is a familiar story given a few twists and elevated by its characters. John Gold is violence personified but he is also an honorable man and when he promises to deliver Teague alive, he means it, which puts him at odds with the mysterious assassin. Meanwhile Teague is a mean bastard but at the same time there is a streak of humanity to him. The pair manage to sell both their past relationship and their current antagonism really well.
However this film isn't all about testosterone. The true delight here are the female characters, Jen Quaid (Durden) and Lynch (Phoebe Robinson-Galvin). While the big boys get to knock ten bales of hay out of each other, these two bring a level of athletic dynamism which is just awesome to watch. You may wonder how two diminutive women can cope against such burly guys - well, watch and learn. Possibly my favourite fight move (and second most memorable - the most being an awesome axe-kick to the head which had the audience cheer) sees our assassin LAUNCH herself knee-first into the chest of her opponent, grab hold of him then use her weight to pull him down and flip him over her to the floor. It. Is. Awesome. And its not a surprise the fight scenes are so good when they are being worked on by the likes of Tim Mann (Accident Man, Ninja 2) and Dan Styles (Avengement).
I only have two niggles with Vengeance 2, and the first is the low mortality rate. Boyask proves to be his own worst enemy in this regard. Other productions would have their actors performing multiple roles, their faces covered to hide the fact. The problem here is Teague's gang are all larger than life types and would be easy to spot even in a balaclava. So the script has to find ways of keeping the cast alive at least until the final showdown, which means that some confrontations end in a damp squib and end up getting repeated. On top of that, when one character DOES get killed, the rest of the cast in shot seem to be confused as to what to do or how to react.
The other (half) niggle is how the film uses Jean Paul Ly. I'm a big fan and seeing him in the cast was awesome. But, just like seeing Scott Adkins' name in a major Hollywood movie, I was beginning to wonder if this was just the worst bit of stunt casting, as the poor guy was left sitting on his thumbs…..until he was let loose during the finale! Watching that moment, I could feel all this hitherto unrealised tension leave my body!
THE VERDICT
I Am Vengeance Retaliation flies the flag for British Action, showing we brits have the capacity as everyone else to kick people in the throat when need be, but also to capture it all on camera with proper framing and editing so you are left in no doubt who's throat just got kicked by whom. Vinnie Jones makes Teague the larger than life villain a film like this needs, and matched by the upstanding John Gold. We may get more instalments of John Gold, but I'd equally welcome a spinoff featuring Jen Quaid.
8 out of 10 RECOMMENDED
MIKEOUTWEST
I AM VENGEANCE RETALIATION Shall be available to rent or buy in the UK from 13th July 2020