Director: Joe Carnahan
Writers: Chris Borey (screenplay), Eddie Borey (screenplay)
Starring: Frank Grillo, Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts
Boss Level is a sci-fi comedy action film about a retired special forces officer who is trapped in a never-ending time loop. In Cinemas 25 February 2021, Frank Grillo plays Roy Pulver who wakes up every morning to be slaughtered by assassins in different ways. He’s either shot, blown up, beheaded, or stabbed; then it starts all over again for reasons he doesn’t understand.
A former Delta Force member Roy needs to figure out why he’s stuck in this repeating loop in time, also how he can save his ex-wife (Naomi Watts as Dr Jemma Wells) and 11 year old son, and what evil military scientist named Ventor (played by Mel Gibson) wants with something called The Osiris Spindle. He seems to have become an unwitting part of Ventor’s plan to use this powerful machine and must work out how. That’s if he can save himself from being killed again.
The film slots in with similar stories from Happy Death Day and Groundhog Day, full of action but at the same time a lot of sentiment. Roy has an ex-wife he’s still in love with and a son he doesn’t spend enough time with as an absentee husband and father. With each resurrection, Roy discovers if he has enough attempts, so he can right the wrongs he’s done and redeem himself in the eyes of the people he loves. All while gathering more clues to the terrifying truth.
The movie has similarities to a video game hence the title “Boss Level”, Grillo has to jump a lot of hoops to get to the truth, with grenade-launchers, assault weapons, beheadings, wild twists and turns and other forms of mayhem. His story is carried by the supporting cast, the amazing Naomi Watts, along with the boss himself Mel Gibson, also Michele Yeoh and Ken Jeong.
Grillo nails the lead role, he delivers heroism and a toughness effortlessly, striking a hard combination of equal parts action, comedy, black comedy. Gibson is comfortable in his role as the evil but talkative and charming Col. I don’t think he is magnetic like we’re used to seeing in his previous roles. For me Naomi Watts expresses her role in this wild ride of mayhem with beautiful professionalism playing Dr Jemma Wells. She’s both emotional, sophisticated and emotive. She has one of those great, classic faces of cinema for whom it seems effortless to delve into her character showing expressions of fear, apprehension, regret with very little effort.
This movie has a lot of entertainment to appreciate, it’s a dash of those great ’90s action thrillers, and a Groundhog Day with a lot of violence..
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