One More Shot (2024) Review

“One More Shot” Sky Poster

Director: James Nunn
Cast: Scott Adkins, Waleed Elgadi, Tom Berenger, Meena Rayann, Alexis Knapp, Michael Jai White, Aaron Toney, Teddy Linard, Hannah Arterton
Running Time: 102 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

After his scene stealing role on the big screen in 2023’s John Wick: Chapter 4, in 2024 British thespian Scott Adkins would return to his role as leading man of DTV action flicks by headlining One More Shot. A sequel to 2021’s One Shot (and notably the first time for Adkins to star in a sequel to one of his own movies that wasn’t helmed by either Isaac Florentine or Jesse V. Johnson), the central gimmick behind the original came in the form of it being presented as one continuous shot (a format the title also serves as a reference to). A production that clearly understood its target audience, in my review for One Shot I’d stated how it “works because of its one-shot gimmick rather than in spite of it”, with Adkins spending the duration attempting to keep a suspected terrorist alive on a remote island against increasingly impossible odds.

As the title of the sequel alludes to, director James Nunn felt confident enough off the back of One Shot to both continue the story and the one-shot narrative technique, going all in for another round. A director who’s well versed in the realm of DTV action, Nunn has worked with Adkins twice before on 2013’s Green Street 3: Never Back Down and 2016’s Eliminators, as well as helming the 5^th and 6^th entries in The Marine franchise. Since making One Shot he took a brief detour into sharksploitation with 2022’s Shark Bait, so it’s a welcome return to see him back working with Adkins again.

It’s not only the director and star who have reunited though, with Nunn making the smart decision to bring back many of the key players who contributed to the success of One Shot. Once more its Tim Man (Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday, Castle Falls) and Dan Styles (Boudica: Queen of War, One Ranger) who step back into their roles of fight choreographer and stunt coordinator respectively, their experience on One Shot no doubt giving them a clear understanding of the brief for what’s needed in the sequel.

Plot wise One More Shot takes place a few hours after the closing scenes of the original. Adkins and the prisoner (played by an also returning Waleed Elgadi – Four Lions) he’s escorting arrive at an airport in Washington DC (which is actually London’s Stansted airport on double duty) where he’s to hand him over to a CIA agent played by Tom Berenger (the Sniper franchise). Playing the kind of role that involves barking gravelly voiced orders at everyone around him, Berenger’s casting feels like it’s there to add that bit of Hollywood presence that Ryan Phillippe gave to the original, and he plays the role well. With 2 hours to go before a televised State of the Union address, where Elgadi is believed to have planted a dirty bomb, Berenger and his team intend to get him to spill the beans no matter what the cost so the address can go ahead.

To that end they’ve located Elgadi’s estranged pregnant wife, played by Meena Rayann (The Mauritanian), who’s been brought along to convince Elgadi to reveal the location of the bomb. All the while Adkins is left on the sidelines, dismissed and under suspicion for being the only surviving team member from the original, it’s while calling his wife that he spots a group of armed mercenaries sneaking around the airport, quickly coming to the realization that his troubles are far from over. In that way One More Shot is a little like Adkins version of Die Hard 2: Die Harder, what with its airport setting, and a protagonist who can’t quite believe he’s going to have to go through the same battle to stay alive as he did in the previous instalment.

Here the one continuous shot technique is effectively utilised so that the countdown to the State of the Union address passes in real time, giving the sequel a welcome sense of urgency, and the airport terminal setting is an effective one for the action to play out in (there’s also nobody else around since the military closed it under the pretence of a gas leak). The ace up the sequels sleeve for many fans though will be the casting of Michael Jai White (Take Back, Skin Trade) as the leader of the mercenaries, with One More Shot marking the 5^th time for Adkins and Jai White to collaborate together. After first appearing onscreen as opponents in 2006’s Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, they’d face off again by kicking off the first episode of 2012’s Metal Hurlant Chronicles, then clock in a 3^rd round in 2018’s Accident Man. In fact the only time the pair have appeared in the same production and didn’t get to fight is in 2019’s Triple Threat.

Jai White’s appearance though is a fleeting one, reminiscent of the way Hwang Jang Lee used to turn up in many an old school kung-fu movie as the final villain despite barely clocking in any prior screentime. Even with a screentime of less than 10 minutes though, he does well to establish an intimidating aura in an early scene that makes his presence felt throughout the narrative, before standing in the way of an exhausted Adkins in the closing scenes. Here the pair are reunited under the choreography of Tim Man from their face off in Accident Man (their previous encounters were choreographed by J.J. Perry and Larnell Stovall respectively), and while their exchange here is comparatively brief with an inconclusive end, it fits in perfectly with where Adkins’ headspace is at in the moment.

Far more satisfying from an action perspective are the tussles Adkins has with Jai White’s righthand men, played by stuntmen Aaron Toney (Debt Collectors, Wolf Warrior 2) and Teddy Linard (Never Back Down: Revolt, Little Bone Lodge), which includes an impressively shot fight on a moving train. However what can’t be denied is that, unlike in One Shot, apart from the real time element here the one take technique feels somewhat superfluous. Ironically the biggest issue is also the action, as with any sequel it should really ramp up the stakes from the previous entry, but with the limitations of the single take for the most part the fight scenes offer up more of the same. They’re quick and efficient, yet there are times when the lack of contact or a limply thrown kick show through a little too obviously. The scale feels larger in the sequel and the narrative has more urgency, but the same upping of the ante can’t be said of the action.

Part of me can’t help but feel that it would have been a more effective action thriller if there was the option to do a few takes of some of the fights. It’d allow for more complex exchanges and moves to be executed without having to pull the whole sequence off in one take, elevating the action to the same level as the other elements of the production, however at the same time I’m also aware it’d be a contradiction to the main gimmick its sold on.

It’d be remiss not to mention the performance of Waleed Elgadi, who despite the occasionally derivative script (many of the establishing shots contain a hilarious number of ADR’d lines from the bad guys, making them feel like a video game cut scene – my personal favorite goes to “let’s go, times ticking!”) acts like he’s been told he’s in a Martin Scorsese movie. As the conflicted terrorist who feels he should avenge the death of his innocent son he’s never less than convincing, and if there was an under the radar star player in both One Shot and even more so the sequel, it’s Elgadi who deserves it for really bringing his character to life in such a believable way.

Despite some of the gripes towards One More Shot, ultimately Nunn and his team both in front and behind the camera still manage to create an entertaining action thriller, one that gets by on a relentless pace and commitment to deliver an unpretentious dose of adrenaline. Apparently confident enough to leave things on a cliffhanger ending, let’s hope that the confidence isn’t misplaced, and we get a third instalment to finish things off.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10