Section 8 (2022)

Posted in Reviews by - November 11, 2022
Section 8 (2022)

True Blood actor Ryan Kwanten turns action hero for this mind-numbing exercise in B-movie box-ticking – a rough attempt at Bourne-meets-Expendables but on a small DTV budget. Kwanten plays an ex-Marine with PTSD living as a doting family man and mechanic in Mickey Rourke’s garage. This is another one of Rourke’s strange, meandering cameos which was clearly filmed on a deadline. When his family are killed by street thugs, Kwanten exacts his revenge and winds up in the slammer, only to be released by the dashing Dermot Mulroney who recruits him into ‘Section 8’ – an off-the-books group of mercenaries used by the state department to do their dirty work. When Kwanten falls foul of Mulroney and the gang, the hunter becomes the hunted, and a Terminator-like assassin (played by Scott Adkins) is called in. Adkins appears in two action scenes, both of which form the most exciting moments in the film; his domestic bust-up with Kwanten is the standout, but you will have to sit through around 80 minutes of tedium beforehand. Despite his shaggy beard and leather jacket, Kwanten still seems too wholesome to be convincing as a deadly killer. The always-reliable Dolph Lundgren appears sporadically to bring proceedings back on course, only for the story to completely tie itself in knots in the final act. It’s not trash, but it’s not memorable either.

AKA: Section Eight.

This post was written by
Editor and creator of Kung Fu Movie Guide and the host of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast. I live behind a laptop in London, UK.

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