ELIMINATORS

ADKINS, BARRETT TAG TEAM

Film Review by Fiore 

I like Scott Adkins.  He is a former stunt man turned action star.  He can’t act; but, man, he can fight.  He first appeared in a starring role in NINJA.  It was a standard action romp, but the martial arts fight scenes were primo.  Since then, he has had small appearances in larger movies.  He currently has a hallway battle with Benedict Cumberbatch’s DOCTOR STRANGE.  His starring roles have all been in films that go direct to video.  So, Adkins is not on the precipice of winning any thespian accolades, but he is fun to watch in hand to hand or knife sequences.

His latest direct to video flick is ELIMINATORS.  It borrows its storyline from A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, but it is certainly not on that scale.  Adkins is a former federal agent, living with his family in London under a witness protection program. When a couple of drug dealers mistake his house for another, he is forced to defend his family, and in so doing, reveals his identity and location.  The nefarious mob bosses he shined soon sent their henchmen to kill Adkins and his family.  Chief attacker is Wade Barrett, he of WWE fame.  The film also stars Daniel Caltagirone and James Cosmo.

ELIMINATORS is actually a fun movie and one of Adkins’ better endeavors.   There is plenty of action and fight sequences.  The two main battles between Adkins and Barrett are noteworthy.  The action is so much better than Adkins’ previous endeavor, HARD TARGET 2.  Not sure what the scheme of the film was, but Adkins was playing with action sequences that simply didn’t fit his style.  The entire endeavor was so forced and pathetically bad, it was painful just trying to get to the end credits.  

Adkins still can’t act.  He’s improving, but really Barrett carries him.  That’s so telling, it bears repeating.  Barrett carries Adkins in ELIMINATORS.

If you like the action films of the 1980’s, ELIMINATORS will serve as a nice sorbet of nostalgia.  Don’t expect anything great.  Open the brewski and pop the corn, and sit and relax and enjoy.  ELIMINATORS is like watching Monday Night Raw, with one overlapping storyline.

THE GRADE FOR ELIMINATORS = B-schlock.