“Ruthless Bastards” Theatrical Poster
Director: Bruce Fontaine
Cast: Sean Patrick Flanery, Casper Van Dien, Theresa Lee, Don Lew, Hasleen Kaur, Parmish Verma
Running Time: 90 min.
By Z Ravas
As time marches on and brings changes with it, “progress” doesn’t always feel like progress; perhaps that’s why there’s something comforting about crime movies that feature aging tough guys who can reminisce about the good ‘ol days—before smartphones and social media—while still cracking heads. I’m thinking of movies like the Shane Black-penned The Nice Guys or the Scott Adkins/Louis Mandylor Debt Collector series. Now you can add Bruce Fontaine’s Ruthless Bastards to the list, as the film pairs Sean Patrick Flanery (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) and Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) as two criminal fixers, once friends but now bitter rivals, forced to work together at the behest of their boss.
As a name, Bruce Fontaine may not be as familiar to Hong Kong movie fans as the likes of Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, or Sammo Hung—but Fontaine worked with all three of those living legends during his time as an actor and stunt performer on films like Operation Condor, Curry & Pepper, and She Shoots Straight. Post-1997 Handover, Fontaine was able to parlay his experience into stunts on Hollywood films such as I, Robot and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and he even oversaw some motion capture performances for video game publisher Electronic Arts. More recently, Fontaine has mostly been working in the independent action movie scene—2016’s Beyond Redemption, made for a paltry $45,000, served as his directorial debut. (Eagle-eyed viewers will notice some footage from Beyond Redemption briefly repurposed here in Ruthless Bastards).
You might be expecting that a film directed by a former Hong Kong stuntman and fight performer would be loaded to the gills with action, but I should caution that Ruthless Bastards is arguably more of a character-driven crime picture than an outright action movie—it’s as much about the quieter moments of Sean Patrick Flanery and Casper Van Dien’s frenemy hitmen performing stakeouts in their car, moaning and groaning about being forced to team-up even as they slowly but surely reforge their bond. Fortunately, Flanery and Van Dien generate some genuine buddy chemistry here: it’s fun to watch these two former Gen X heartthrobs, now older and wiser and a little bit humbled by the twists that life has thrown their way (you sense this may be as equally true for the actors as the characters they play), give each other grief while ultimately having one another’s backs at the end of the day. Flanery and Van Dien are apparently friends in real life and it shows in their easy camaraderie; I wouldn’t be surprised if some of their dialogue here is the result of onset improvising as well.
Don’t worry, the film doesn’t leave us action fans entirely starved—this is Bruce Fontaine we’re talking about, after all. There are a couple brief scraps scattered about the film, including one that showcases Hasleen Kaur’s character and her deadly skills with a blade, but the bulk of the film’s action is saved for the climax. Fortunately, it’s worth the wait: not only do we get a humorous three-way fight between our two heroes and Hasleen Kaur (both these guys are so old-school, they can’t bring themselves to punch a “chick”—which complicates things when she’s trying to stab them to death!), but Sean Patrick Flanery also engages in a knockdown, drag-out brawl with the film’s big bad, portrayed by Indian actor Parmish Verma. With a former Hong Kong stuntman behind the camera, it should come as little surprise that the action here leans into a raw and analog feel, with cast members like Flanery appearing to do many of their own stunts. And I should mention that Fontaine has brought along another Hong Kong luminary to this cast in actress Theresa Lee (Downtown Torpedoes, Big Bullet), as well as some of his Beyond Redemption cohort like Don Lew (stunts on 300 and Star Trek Beyond).
Ruthless Bastards is a movie that knows sometimes it’s fun to root for a couple of bad guys on the path to redemption. The script from first-time writer Varinder Jhattu presents two grizzled SOBs with a checkered past who finally have a shot at doing the right thing simply because it’s the right thing. It’s a concept that’s solid on paper but really comes to life here because Sean Patrick Flanery and Casper Van Dien are fun to watch play off each other, with neither actor phoning it in simply because this is a low-budget production. Ruthless Bastards proves an easy recommendation to action fans who enjoy the kind of oldschool screen duos who can take a punch and keep on ticking. While the film could have benefitted from one or two more action scenes throughout its runtime, the macho odd couple at the heart of Ruthless Bastards is the reason why I would happily watch a sequel.
Z Ravas’ Rating: 6.5/10
