“Afterburn” Theatrical Poster
Director: J. J. Perry
Cast: Dave Bautista, Olga Kurylenko, Kristofer Hivju, Samuel L. Jackson, Daniel Bernhardt, Kevin Eldon, Simon Merrells, Eden Epstein, George Somner
Running Time: 106 min.
By Z Ravas
J.J. Perry is a name that action fans may or may not know, but they really should: over the last three years, the stuntman-turned-director has quietly proved himself one of the best action filmmakers working today. His directorial debut arrived with 2022’s Dayshift, a vampire action/comedy that was produced by the John Wick boys and perhaps would have reached a wider audience had it not been relegated to the Netflix content machine; but Perry is a longtime veteran of the industry who’s paid his dues—he was Linden Ashby’s stunt double on the 90’s Mortal Kombat, for one thing, and he even made an appearance in 2015’s Unlucky Stars, the Kickstarter-funded, little-seen-but-much-loved homage to Hong Kong martial arts cinema.
Perry has brought his decades of experience as a stuntman and action performer to bear on his directorial efforts, displaying a flair for kinetic violence in films like the aforementioned Dayshift and The Killer’s Game. (Both of which featured Scott Adkins in supporting roles, so you know Perry knows ball when it comes to the contemporary action scene). The latter was a surprisingly enjoyable vehicle for Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista, surprising in part because it cast the hulking ex-wrestler as a romantic lead. Perry and Bautista must have enjoyed working together, as only a year later they’re back with Afterburn. Whereas The Killer’s Game was a colorful hitman comedy with a dash of romance, Afterburn draws its inspiration from the Red 5 Comics graphic novel of the same name and presents a post-apocalyptic adventure in a near future London that’s been ravaged by a solar flare.
Bautista stars as Jake—yup, just Jake, no last name given—a treasure hunter and salvage diver whose reputation precedes him. In the near-feudal conditions of this imagined future, Samuel L. Jackson’s character fancies himself the new King of England and soon recruits Bautista to head deep into enemy territory (AKA France) to retrieve the Mona Lisa. Once there, Bautista teams up with a local resistance fighter, played by former Bond girl and current Direct to Video action queen Olga Kurylenko, and runs afoul of a mad Russian general (Game of Thrones’ Kristofer Hivju). You probably won’t be surprised to hear that Jake’s mission ends up more complicated than simply retrieving a priceless work of art, but I’m not about to spoil this script, which interestingly enough sports a co-writing credit for Nimród Antal (director of Predators and Armored).
Given the post-apocalyptic trappings—ruined buildings, scavenging gangs, violent warlords—you’d be forgiven if you expected Afterburn to strike a largely serious, even poe-faced tone. But Perry tends to maintain a light touch with this material, opting for humor whenever possible, like when Bautista watches Olga Kurylenko absolutely merc some enemy soldiers with a knife and then mutters to himself “Don’t get turned on, don’t get turned on.” The big, fiery truck chase here isn’t scored to a thundering orchestra to make you feel like the stakes are life-and-death; instead, it’s set to an adrenaline-pumping rock tune by Australian band Airbourne (which is kinda like licensing an AC/DC track without having to pay AC/DC’s fees).
By the way, J.J. Perry does such an effortless job coordinating all of the tanks and explosions here that I officially want to put his name forward as the director for The Expendables 5. Not that we need an Expendables 5, mind you, but it seems like Lionsgate is more or less determined to make one, and Afterburn gives me the impression that Perry would be more than qualified to steer that franchise.
And yet I struggle to articulate just why Afterburn is likely my least favorite of Perry’s directorial outings so far: maybe it’s the dreary, war-torn Eastern European setting that somewhat saps the energy from proceedings; maybe it’s the rather slow opening stretch, which features Dave Bautista riding his motorcycle and skulking around an empty apartment building for what feels like at least ten minutes; or maybe it’s the fact that the movie teases a big fight sequence featuring Bautista verses a bunch of parkour-practicing cannibals, only to whiff the ball at the last second.
If you can believe it, Afterburn has been in some manner of development hell since at least 2008, to the point that we almost got a version of this directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola and starring Gerard Butler. The Afterburn that belatedly made its way to screens this year didn’t exactly set the world on fire: Box Office Mojo reports the film grossed a pitiable $1 million worldwide. Nevertheless, I’d wager Afterburn offers enough modest pleasures for my fellow DTV junkies—like the sight of Dave Bautista trying out some wrestling moves on a boxcar full of black-garbed jackboots or shotgun blasting a Mad Max-style gang of thieves at close range. Landing somewhere between a modern update on the Albert Pyun actioners of yore (Cyborg) and just another gloomy low-budget movie shot behind the former Iron Curtain, Afterburn at the very least delivers further proof that J.J. Perry is one of the most dependable names in action design.
Z Ravas’ Rating: 6.5/10
Thanks for sharing! Seems like a decent way to kill time on a Sunday. I wish other people weren’t such miserable bastards who don’t go to the theatre and contribute to bad box office receipts.