End of Loyalty (2023) Poster

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4/10
End of Loyalty
BandSAboutMovies8 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
When Carmine (Michael DeBartolo)the head of a crime family, is killed by a rival named Rooker (Vernon Wells), his son Grant (Justice Joslin) swears revenge. His lifelong best friend, Ray (Braxton Angle), is now a federal agent and while he wants to help his friend, he also has to keep him from going too far. To make matters worse, Ray's dad (Michael Paré) is watching Grant's 11-year-old daughter Jada (Tenley Kellogg) when Rooker comes calling.

When Grant goes after Rooker all by himself, this leads to the biggest worry of the movie: If Ray calls the cops, so many of them are paid off by Rooker. Best case, his friend gets arrested. Worse case, they both get killed. And the other option? He has to go up against the toughest criminals in town all by himself.

Director Hiroshi Katagiri has worked on plenty of special effects for some big movies, but now he's directing. He also made Love Hurts and Gehenna: Where Death Lives, as well as acting as the writer on this film along with Chris Preyor. You can see some of his effects work in movies like Avatar: The Way of Water, Captain Marvel and Looper. He does a good job directing this film which seems like a welcome throwback to 90s action.
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2/10
Generous 2 stars....
NullUnit7 January 2024
On a scale of 1-10, every single aspect of this film is a 2.

  • Acting = 2
  • Directing = 2
  • Lighting = 2
  • Sound = 2
  • first time I can remember noticing this... Foley = 2
  • Cinematography = 2
  • Special Effects = 2 (catsup for blood)
  • Dialog = 2
  • Premise = 2
  • Story = 2


Nothing rates higher than a 2. It's evident that everyone seems to be TRYING.. but, well, they simply don't have the skills they may think they have. From the writer, to the director, to the cinematographer, to the actors, to the editor.... all bad.

Among the worst aspects is the directing.. scene blocking is pretty miserable.

Then the acting.. especially the British guy... Example from the opening few minutes: trying to get his boss' son to go with him.. he stands there inadvertently pointing a gun at the guy's HEAD, with a finger on the trigger... note, this is NOT a "threatening" scene. He's intending to HELP the guy the gun is pointing at. CLEARLY the actor has no awareness of the firearm in his hand. A director, or anyone NOT seeing this while shooting and retaking the scene.. well.. that goes to the skill of the director as well.

Paré's acting is as bad as it ever has been. Here.. he's delivering unnatural dialog from a bad script as well. Compounding the poor performance.

As for Foley.. which, honestly I can't ever recall noticing before, is bad in this. Sounds meant to "round out" a scene, such as glass breaking, footsteps, gunshots, punches, doors, etc.. are "off" to a degree they sound FAKE. Good foley would mean these sounds blend and appear to be part of the filming. That's not the case in this film. Fight scenes seem littered with just horribly added sounds.

The end is especially poor due to a bunch of unskilled actors tryign to pull off "Oscar-level drama" and it's honestly fairly laughable.

Just pass on this. If you're in the mood for an action, crime drama, this should NOT be your choice.

Lots of adult-oriented themes (centered around crime). No nudity. Lots of foul language. Lots of violence and (clearly fake) blood.
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