“Dead Reckoning” Theatrical Poster
AKA: Altar Rock
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Cast: India Eisley, K.J. Apa, Scott Adkins, James Remar, Ellie Cornell, Sydney Park, Phuong Diep
Running Time: 91 min.
By Paul Bramhall
2020 has been a good year for the discerning Scott Adkins fan. He returned as French in Jesse V. Johnson’s Debt Collectors, re-teamed with Isaac Florentine for Seized, took the lead in espionage thriller Legacy of Lies, and plays a Muslim terrorist set on blowing up a beachside Fourth of July party in the self-proclaimed “millennial romantic thriller” Dead Reckoning. It’s not difficult to spot the odd one out, but in case there’s any doubt, it’s the last one.
Originally entitled Altar Rock after a location in the story, Dead Reckoning was filmed way back in 2016, and has spent the last 4 years trying to market itself from various angles to be distributed. The tale of the tape can be gauged from looking at the various poster designs over the succeeding years. We’ve had the patriotic angle with the title simply imprinted against the backdrop of the star-spangled banner, complete with the tagline ‘Sacrifices will be made’. We’ve had the teen-centric angle with a collage of the attractive young cast on a sunny beach and huddled around a campfire, with the new tagline of ‘The Summer you’ll never forget’. For its eventual release distributor Shout! Studios have come to their senses, so we get a new title and a dodgy Photoshop with Scott Adkins, K.J. Apa, India Eisley, and James Remar positioned above an exploding boat. Oh, and a new tagline – ‘Two Loyalties. One Choice’. Generic tension – check!
I’ve been looking forward to seeing Adkins play the bad guy again since 2018’s Triple Threat, but I admit this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Indeed the thought of Adkins featuring in any kind of millennial romance is enough to make you think that this is his version of Santa’s Summer House. It’s not, but he’s also not the main character here, instead playing a supporting part as the brother of K.J. Apa (A Dog’s Purpose), a local kid in the small beachside town of Nantucket Island. Apa finds himself falling for a vodka swilling college girl played by India Eisley, known for being the daughter of Olivia Hussey (who featured in Ringo Lam’s Undeclared War) and playing the lead in the 2014 live-action adaptation of the anime Kite. Eisley’s parents were killed in a private plane accident a few weeks earlier, which turns out to be a pre-meditated murder by Mr. Adkins.
The plot essentially hinges on the 2-fold question of what will go down when Apa realizes his brother murdered the parents of the girl he’s falling in love with, and vice versa for when Eisley connects the dots that the guy she’s dating is related to her parents murderer. For those who have been following the production of Dead Reckoning, it was impossible not to notice the way it marketed itself as being “inspired by the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.” Arguably distasteful, however in the context of the plot it is valid. Adkins and Apa are clearly styled after the Tsarnaev brothers responsible for the bombing. Like their original plans, in the movie the intention is to bomb a Fourth of July fireworks party, Apa is largely following his brothers lead as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stated he was, and the fact that he hid in a boat to evade detection is also used in the movie. The phrase may not read well, but it does make sense.
In the director’s chair is Andrzej Bartkowiak, a guy who made a career out of pairing up martial arts and hip-hop stars (with varying results). Bartkowiak made his feature length debut by giving Jet Li his first starring role in Hollywood opposite Aaliyah with Romeo Must Die, and would go onto pair him up again with DMX in Cradle 2 the Grave. He must have signed DMX up on a buy 1 get 1 free contract, because despite his lack of acting (and some would say rapping) talent, he was utilized again to pair up with Steven Seagal in Exit Wounds, which, I confess, I kind of enjoy.
Things went off the rails for Bartkowiak though when he decided to swap out hip-hop stars for Russian bodybuilders, and teamed up Alexander Nevsky with Mark Dacascos for 2016’s abysmal Maximum Impact. He’s been paying penance ever since by directing the Christian themed movie Divine Mercenary, and his name is currently attached to 2 more with The Big Church Movie and The Kimberly Ray Story. We should be thankful then that Dead Reckoning was filmed 4 years ago, otherwise the plot would most likely be quite different. As it is though, Dead Reckoning didn’t provide me with the dud that I was admittedly expecting (don’t judge me, we all were!), and is actually a fairly entertaining 90 minutes.
A lot of the entertainment admittedly comes from the odd tone it strikes. As the leads, Eisley and Apa are surprisingly effective, and the way their relationship develops feels natural and unforced (despite a clunky script). It’s the inclusion of Adkins, and James Remar (The Quest, Mortal Kombat: Annhilitaiton) as the FBI agent after him, that often feels like it’s from a completely different movie. Adkins is rocking the Boyka accent as the ”foreign hairy pig” out to bomb all of the ”infidel bitches” and ”foreign whores”, and even though his character is a caricature (even his love making is evil, with the girl yelling ”Stop! It doesn’t feel good!”), aspects of his performance actually resonate.
However it almost feels like Bartkowiak didn’t know who Adkins is, and that someone must have mentioned to him half way though filming ”By the way, that’s the guy who plays Boyka”, as out of nowhere mid-movie we get this knock down drag out brawl between him and Remar that takes place on the boat. The fight incorporates axes, hammers, fish hooks, and even a little gore is thrown in for good measure. It’s so gratuitous compared to the tone of everything else, that I found myself giggling with what I think was bemused delight.
Then Bartkowiak must have come to the realisation that there’s literally no other opportunity to have Adkins logically fight again, so barely a few minutes later we get a shoe-horned in scene in which he’s forced to face off against Eisley’s auntie, played by Ellie Cornell of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers fame. There’s something hilarious about watching Adkins ferociously fight against a middle aged woman, and for extra gratuity the fight throws in scissors, a scalpel, and even a drip stand as weapon! Did I mention Cornell plays a lesbian, who’s dating actress and singer Phuong Diep (who, ironically, plays a singer in the movie – and yes, she does!)?
I get the distinct feeling that Remar’s scenes were filmed later, as his whole storyline about being an FBI agent hunting down Adkins doesn’t quite gel. He never shares a scene with Eisley or Apa, and the scenes he does have contain some awful acting and lines (in one scene he requests a log book, and after the receptionist gives it to him, he randomly says ”You’re a dream!”). Indeed apart from building up to give Adkins a chance to pummel someone, he really serves no purpose, and despite playing an important part in the final scene, is only mentioned but doesn’t appear. It’s weird, but I was entertained.
Dead Reckoning clearly doesn’t have a high budget, however when the movie focuses on its core story of the romance between Apa and Eisely, its not an issue. It does however become painfully obvious during such scenes as the plane crash, which is filmed by wildly crash (excuse the pun) zooming on a close-up of a dog (I kid you not) accompanied by suitably panicked yelling. A scene at the beach featuring Apa and Eisely also seems to have been re-worked in post to feature Adkins, as he turns up to looking like he’s on a Zoom call where he’s chosen the beach background wallpaper.
Despite these glaring flaws and brazen changes in tone, Dead Reckoning for the most part is a pleasant diversion thanks to these aspects rather than in spite of them. Eisley and Apa make for likeable leads, and I found myself invested in their relationship without realizing I was until everything begins to unfold. Is it a ”millennial romantic thriller”? I guess it is, but in the end, that didn’t turn out to be such a bad thing. Who knew?
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10
It sounds like the movie was unintentionally entertaining. I wasn’t expecting Adkins’ usual output here, but I don’t know if this movie is for me.
WHAT ?! WHAT ?! WHAT THE FUCK ?! WHAAAAAAAAAAAT ?! HUH ?! NANI ?! HOW THE FUCK ?! THIS got a higher rating than both Seized and Legacy of Lies ? Nope I am done ! yeah I’m done, I am out of here ! it’s been a good life everyone, shame I never got to see Hydra but hope y’all enjoy it, bye !
Seriously Paul, HOW ?! just, just how ?! lol xD glad you somewhat enjoyed a second Scott Adkins movie this year mate, now I can’t wait to see this ! There HAS to be a reason this ranked higher than Seized and Legacy ! ahahahaha
Ha ha, I know your brain has been fried when you start throwing in random Japanese! 🙂
I should make one thing very clear – this is not a “Scott Adkins movie”. It’s a millennial romantic thriller, & a movie should be judged based on what it claims to be. Taking it on those merits, and some clearly unintended entertainment value, yes, I enjoyed this more than ‘Legacy of Lies’ and ‘Seized’ (both of which I found it a slog to finish). Maybe I’m just done with seeing Adkins play father characters to annoying kids. 😛 I’ll await a summons from your lawyer in the mail.
dude I fell out of my chair when I first saw the score, I did that cartoon rubbing the eyes to see clearer thing lol xD but yeah I mean I’m glad you enjoyed this dude ! didn’t know millennial romantic thrillers were your thing Paul but turns out you’re a heartthrob within ! 😀
Damn! So judging by this review, the Adkins Scoreboard for 2020 reads, 1 Hit and 3 misses. Legacy of Lies was confused, Seized disappointing and this…well I’m not sure what this is but judging by the review Dead Reckoning looks like it can share shelf space with Zero Tolerance and No Surrender AKA Karmouz War: Films with Adkins awkwardly shoe-horned in to give it a little more action cred.
On that note, let me publicly proclaim my utter dislike for Andrej Bartkowiak. A dreadful filmmaker who’s disrespect for martial artists border on contempt. A director who thinks a Jet Li fight scene can be enhanced with clunky CGI, or thinks it’s cool to cut away from a Li Vs Dacascos fight cause we all wanna watch DMX fight some rando and edits a Seagal Vs Jai White fight into incoherence.
I agree Bartkowiak is a lackluster filmmaker, although I think the blame for Jet Li’s CGI enhanced shenanigans in ‘Romeo Must Die’ are more a result of producer Joel Silver, who after the success of ‘The Matrix’ was eager to apply the enhanced kung-fu aesthetic to whatever he produced next. After producing 1998’s ‘Lethal Weapon 4’, it most likely put Li in the line of fire to headline Hollywood’s first post-Matrix crack at reviving the kung-fu genre.
No excuses though for his work on ‘Cradle 2 the Grave’ and ‘Exit Wounds’ (although he remains the only director to convince Seagal to do some wire-work!), and if you really want to lose the will to live, well – ‘Maximum Impact’ awaits.
Maximum Impact???Thanks but no thanks Paul, especially since you were gracious enough to take one for the team by reviewing it 🙂
A piece of cinematic dreck called Showdown In Manila has put me off Alexander Nevsky for life!
“didn’t know millennial romantic thrillers were your thing Paul but turns out you’re a heartthrob within ! 😀”
C’mon guys, surely I’ve been reviewing on here long enough for you to know the shape of my heart?
Legacy of Lies will be showing here in Singapore on cable 2 weeks from now.
From what i hear, i should not be expecting much.
Hi Felix. You can check out our review for ‘Legacy of Lies’ here.
Thanks, Paul. I’ve actually read it before.
Maybe i’ll have a different take after seeing it.
Ok so upon SIR Paul Bramhall’s request, I’ve been tasked with reviewing/sharing my thoughts on this film, I’ve seen this a while ago now and uh the fact that I haven’t bothered to come back here and tell you guys what I thought about it, was rather indicative of the quality of film I encountered……… which is to say, PISS FUCKING POOR.
God where do I start ? smh 🙁 I guess I could start from the story and the plot 0_0 oh wait there’s like barely any in here. The plot is like if someone took Peter Berg’s brilliant “Patriot’s Day” and was like, ok we have 1/3rd of the budget, none of the A-list cast, or any fucking idea of how to deliver the same emotional content of a post-911 American tragedy.
If the story isn’t filled with multitudes of levels of stupidity and illogical decision-making from its characters, such as a known terrorist not having a single clue about how modern day surveillance cameras work when they’re sneaking on to sabotage a plane at an airfield, or how fucking stupid the airfield staff/police were afterwards during the investigation of said ariplane crash that it took a 2 weeks after for a rundown detective to travel halfway across the country to think of rewinding the security cam footage to identify the culprit, FUCK ME THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST 20 MINUTES OF THE FILM, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH ! So yeah if the film isn’t brought down by that level of stupidity, the romantic angle between two of the most uncharismatic, awkward as fuck teens will surely want you to stone yourself to death. India Eisley’s creepy as fuck, she’d be perfect casting for Alma if anyone ever adapts F.E.A.R. (pls don’t actually do it) and K.J. Apa, K.J. who ? yeah, exactly ! Scott 🙁 ma boi Scott what the fuck did he forget in this movie ? why the fuck is he in this movie ? how the fuck is he THIS bad in this movie ? those were the questions I was asking myself throughout this movie, and the only possible answer I could think of was the fact that this movie was shot quite a while ago back in 2016, and in 2016 Adkins, as it seems was willing to try a part in anything and everything as it seems, which landed him in the backyard of dogshit with Andrej Bartkowiak -_- The sex scene in this film that Paul so wonderfully warned me about while reading his review, was still not able to prepare me for the cringe I was about to witness once Scott Adkins’ character literally grabs a chick we’ve never seen him with, flirted with or attracted on any sort of level and proceeds to doggy-style her and my collective anus in what is probably the head-slammingly cringe sex scene I’ve seen in the last few years. It was enough to convince me to abstain from sex for another 5 (ok maybe 10) more years, knowing that human interaction can be reduced to this level of absolute stupidity. It just….. *sigh* it just kept on going worse and worse after that, with a ridiculous, over-the-top fight sequence between James Remar and Adkins on his yacht that for some fucking reason incorporates weapons of opportunity and brutal violence that would be welcome in something like “Seized” or any other half-decent Adkins flick (how the fuck did Paul rate this over “Seized” I am still baffled by that) but here it just feels so off the mark, so out of touch with the rest of the film’s tone and ends with such bad CGI pyrotechnics that, again how I made it through this entire film I have no idea.
Add onto that the god awful CGI, including one extremely weird shot of Adkins on the beach that feels like he was CGI-clipped into that environment with the background being the most overtly, unfitting grass and sand for a beach location I’ve ever seen and it suddenly makes Adkins’ character look like some ethereal figure that has come down upon the earth to induce it with confusion and awe….. at how weird things can really get.
The ending is……….. I……. I don’t even know what to call it, I’m afraid of even referring to it as an ending as almost nothing feels resolved and isn’t compelling on any level, for any character, or any subplot, it just kinda ends and so does my review of this shit, I’m fucking tired, I barely wrote this thing and even that I only wrote it for Paul, cause of how much I value and am inspired by his reviews, structure and how well he arguments his points along with some damn-fine research into the cast and crew involved for the film, and now I went on a tangent of reviewing Paul’s reviews and obsessing over him like India Eisley does over K.J. Apa, but at least I have my reasons for liking Paul, there’s not a single reason besides “cute teens wanna fuck but don’t” that “Dead Reckoning” can bring up for why the romance between Eisley and Apa even begins. Just no !
0/10.
I salute you sir for delivering your thoughts so articulately as always, and apologies for the peer pressure, but it was definitely worth it as your review is the most entertaining thing I’ve read all week!
Your venom towards ‘Dead Reckoning’ is palpable, and I hope that it finds a wider audience beyond the 2 of us so that others can also weigh in with their thoughts. It’s coming up to 6 months since I watched it, and sometimes my mind still finds itself replaying that wonderful scene in which a plane crash is represented by the camera frantically zooming on a dog.
Anyway, good luck for the next 5 years, at least you have a good internet connection. 😛
OMG PAUL THAT PLANE CRASH SCENE ! xD how the fuck did I forget that ? that was comedy gold masquerading as tension and sad tragedy, honestly Dead Reckoning is so unintentionally hilarious, I can see why you enjoyed it so much 😀