First, you have to talk about the action. It's just fantastic. I've seen comparisons to John Wick because both movies were directed by former stunt coordinators and have a distinct style. John Wick is a little bit smoother, polished and stylized. This one is more brutal and visceral. Both are shot excellently and choreographed wonderfully. This one has more brutal intensity with the way it plays out. There's also a lot of variety in the action. There are close corridor shootouts, big open city setting shootouts, car chases, hand-to-hand fights, knife fights, sniping type action, RPG's, one take shot action... Because of the way that it's filmed with the long takes, there's an about 30 minutes long section that basiclly plays in real time. You just feel you are right there in the movie.

The other thing the movie does really well is handeling it's story.The basic plot is very straight-forward. A mercenary is trying to get a boy out of the town alive. His objective is very clear from beginning to end. However, it adds complexity, nuance and intrigue with the different characters involved and their relationships with each other.

The movie does have sraight-forward and uninteresting villians that are just evil, but it also has characters that are allies to the main the mercenary, but antagonistic to the boy and allies to the boy, but antagonistic to the mercenary. There are a lot of interesting character dynamics that add tension to the action sequences. The plot is straight-forward, but it's executed with intrigue because of the characters and their dynamics.

The movie has more emotion than you would expect from a fim like this. There are not any big character arcs, but you learn enough about each of the characters to care about them and their relationships. We also dive a little bit more into the side characters than you'd expect. Even some of the henchmen and assassins are given more depht. There are scenarios of why they are doing what they are doing so you care when you see them in action. Some of them you don't want to die and some of them you do.

Chris Hemsworth was great in this movie. We know that he can handle action and be a leading man. This movie ups the stakes of being the here because he's doing real stuntwork. There's no green screen. You see him actually doing fight coreography. When it pauses for the character moments, he gets to really act as this broken man on a mission that's starting to see the humanity in the events. He doesn't rely on his humour or his bag of tricks to make him likeabe. It's al just about the performance and I really think he was the right man for this film.

This is not a movie for everyone. This is a hard R action movie. There is violence against children that can be pretty gut-wrenching if that's not your thing. If you're looking for a deep character study or a plot driven movie this isn't that. It's an action movie for people that love that visceral expirience of watching an R-rated action movie. I love that this film got brutal and heart-wrenching. It feels like a gut-punch. Some people won't like it.

The thing that holds the movie back the most is the bond that forms between Chris Hemsworth and the boy. It feels sudden. It feels ike from one converstaion to the next there's a big gap that isn't fully earned to hep us understand that transition. It needed a bit more dialogue to build that bridge from one place to the next.

This is exactly the kind of movie I want Netflix to make more of. There is talent in front of and behind the camera and they took a risk on a new first time featured director. Since we're in lockdown, I think people a re going to very much enjoy this movie.

9/10