I Am Vengeance was directed and written by Ross Boyask and stars Stu Bennett, Anna Shaffer, Gary Daniels, Bryan Larkin, Alan Calton, Sebastian Knapp, and Kevin Leslie. It follows an ex-special operator as he returns home to find out who killed his best friend and why, making sure to kill all of those responsible along the way.
The Plot: It's hard to be original at this point in cinema, and the reductive attitudes more and more people have don't make it any easier; so I Am Vengeance takes the basic revenge-based action template and tries little to make itself especially different. After the murder of his best friend Dan (Leslie) and his family at the hands of Hatcher (Daniels), ex-soldier turned merc Gold (Bennett) returns to his hometown where it seems that no one is willing to speak up about who killed Dan. After a run-in with Hatcher and goons Marshall (Larkin) and Lambert (Calton), Gold meets Sandra (Shaffer) who knows Keith (Knapp) who knew Dan and got the short end from Hatcher. Following his introduction, Gold is ready to take the baddies down and save the town. There's a conspiracy bent to the story that, while by no means unheard of, does add the slightest bit of depth to a quite surface level story. It's just nice to have some meat on the bones of an action B-Movie while still being an efficient time killer.
The Characters: Everyone in the movie is a walking, talking cliche and there's (again) near zero efforts to challenge the action hero status quo; which is fine but leaves the actors without much to dig in to and the movie feeling closer to a template than something finished. Gold is a pretty archetypical tough guy who can throw down with the best of them thanks to his military background and gun-for-hire lifestyle. Boyask is wise to include an element of mystery about the man. He's been considered a primary target by a shadowy suit who's always watching him and reporting in on what he's doing. It's more window-dressing than character but it's something. Sandra fills the sidekick role out well enough, although Shaffer plays her way too bubbly, which gets old fast. Hatcher and his goons are all played well by the actors, but there's so little to them aside from basic greed that any impression they do happen to make is because of the actors and not the script; which is true for most of the characters here.
The Action: For an action movie, there isn't very much action. There are some decent sequences that make good use of Bennett's aptitude for physicality, but there's only a couple of fights worth remembering. Highlights include a fight inside a drug den between Gold and Lambert and the final showdown between Gold and Hatcher where the both of them get to show off their skills. It's not built up all that well and Bennett isn't on the level of Daniels quite yet in his career, but it does act as a moment where Gold gets to blow off all the steam he had clearly been holding on to for a long time and lets the movie end on a high note. Editing trickery is equal parts obvious and confusing when it does happen. One major fight scene is cut as though Bennett was incapable of action but that couldn't be further from the truth, as is shown whenever he has to take down some fools.
The Technics: This lower budgeted B-Movie manages to have two solidly known faces in the action world while still looking competent, except during some of the fight scenes, which is an accomplishment on its own terms. Conversely, the sounds are subpar at best, with an out of place electronic theme that comes up fairly often and never quite gels with what's happening on screen. Stock sound effects are also used, which by itself isn't any problem, but using the same sound three times in the same scene in a context that doesn't make sense certainly is a problem. Luckily it's only that egregious once, a phrase that suits the movie more than it should. It's well-produced but leaves you wanting more.
As a first outing for a new action hero, I Am Vengeance shows some promise, largely due to Bennett and some good action beats. Unfortunately more often than not, the movie plays it safe, using the same formula with no deviation. With a more playful script there could be something worth franchising, but not quite yet.
56/100.
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