Legacy of Lies | DVD (Lionsgate)
Director: Adrian Bol
Producer: Marco Robinson
Cast: Scott Adkins, Honor Kneafsey, Andrea Vasiliou, Anna Butkevich, Victor Solé, Matt Mitler, Yuliia Sobol, Martin McDougall, Chee Leon Sua
Running Time: 101 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The latest Scott Adkins vehicle Legacy of Lies has had an interesting journey to the screen. A passion project of Dutch director and writer Adrian Bol and producer Marco Robinson, it was originally planned that Robinson would play the lead, however those plans changed when the proof of concept trailer won at the Ukrainian Film Foundation. The prize was a million dollars to fund the production, but with the caveat that to access the money, it needs a bankable star attached to it. Thankfully, with only 2 weeks left before the fund expired, British martial arts star Scott Adkins entered the picture, securing the prize money needed to kickstart the proof of concept into a feature length movie.
Robinson said of his decision to step down from headlining that ultimately it was about allowing for the bigger production budget that having a bankable star in the lead would secure. An amicable decision maybe, and he still gets a minor part onscreen, however it’s also perhaps a lesson that bigger doesn’t always necessarily mean better. Adkins can brighten up even the most low-budget of action movies, and here, like on Triple Threat, he insisted on bringing Tim Man onboard to choreograph the action. The biggest problem with Legacy of Lies though, is that as much as it wants to be, it’s really not an action movie.
If anything, it feels like a mid-00’s Eastern European shot Steven Seagal flick, only with less mumbling and some effort actually being put in by the lead. However most of those movies would still have been crap without Seagal in them, and in Legacy of Lies, the same can be said despite the presence of Adkins to bolster proceedings. Events kick off 12 years ago in Ukraine, with Adkins playing an MI6 agent out to obtain some secretive files from the Russians. When the deal goes bad, his wife is caught in the cross-fire, and he’s left to raise their new born baby alone. Over a decade on and he’s back in London, popping pills and with an unexplained persistent cough which only appears in one scene. His time is spent between being a bouncer and taking part in underground steel cage matches under the name of Bully Boy (seriously), the latter of which he’s so confident in he fights in just his jeans. Boyka wouldn’t be happy.
Like a true Seagal character, Adkins has spent the past 12 years constantly on the move with his daughter to stay off the radar of both MI6 and the CIA, so determined is he to stay “out of the game”. However when the journalist daughter of a colleague who was murdered in Ukraine all those years ago enters the picture, his cover is blown, and both agencies come calling to bring him back into the fold. Although resistant, when the Russians kidnap his daughter (via Madonna lookalike Anna Butkevich), backed into a corner he’s left with no choice but to team up with the journalist (Yuliia Sobol) while being pursued by his former agency, the CIA, and the KGB.
Adkins has been on a roll these past few years, thanks largely to his consistently high-quality collaborations with director Jesse V. Johnson. It’s noticeable that the only real ‘blip’ in the 7 starring vehicles he’s headlined since 2018, is one that wasn’t directed by Johnson, the abysmal space actioner Incoming. Much like Incoming, here director Adrian Bol shows a distinct lack of knowing how to play to Adkins strengths. Adkins plays the character as either sombre or shouty, with no in-between, and the development is inconsistent throughout. In an initial scene he’d rather be getting it on with a prostitute than spending time with his daughter, sat in the other room with headphones on, however once she’s kidnapped much of the dialogue implies their relationship is a close one, contradicting those establishing scenes. Making a character go from washed up flawed father to generic action hero with no effort isn’t good filmmaking.
On the subject of the daughter, she’s annoying. Played by Honor Kneafsey, she’s ladened with such horrendous dialogue like “I was born out of love!”, and when discussing her desire to start school (it’s never expanded on that she’s never been formally educated), she declares “I have to think about my future, I have to have a profession!” Although her character is supposed to be 12, Kneafsey was 15 at the time of filming, and her character both looks and acts more like her actual age than the one she’s supposed to be. Other character traits likely to irritate are the fact that she’s on a detox diet, and is a keen fight analyst, so if you ever wanted to see Adkins in an underground fight which has his onscreen daughter yelling advice from the other side of the cage, you’re in the right place.
Speaking of the fight action, there’s very little to write home about. Adkins gets a few chances to let loose against multiple attackers, but they’re brief and nothing we haven’t seen before. I like Tim Man as a choreographer, and there’s no doubting he has a lot of talent, but I also think (much like Adkins himself) he needs a good director behind him to really bring out his best. Both Isaac Florentine and Jesse V. Johnson have provided showcases for Man’s best work, with his choreography in the likes of Ninja: Shadow of a Tear and Accident Man being up there in the top tiers, but here the action feels mostly perfunctory.
For those clocking in purely to see Adkins do his thing, he gets two one-on-one throwdowns. The first is a steel cage match against his long-time stunt buddy Stanciu Florian. Those expecting Boyka styled showboating will be disappointed, as it’s a grounded and gritty affair with none of the aerial flair we’re used to seeing in similar scenarios via the Undisputed series. It’s a worthwhile fight, however as it’s there purely to show that Adkins is taking part in underground fights and isn’t at his best, there’s nothing significant at stake from the pairing. The other takes the form of a mid-movie scuffle against an MI6 agent played by actor and stuntman Chee Leon Sua, seen recently in I Am Vengeance: Retaliation, although his biggest claim to fame is arguably being Donnie Yen’s stunt double in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Their fight is lengthy; however it’s missing that real wow factor, mostly consisting of a series of punch and blocks.
Outside of the action, Bol’s direction is too pedestrian to maintain attention. Apart from knowing it’s something to do with the use of nerve agents, it’s never made clear what exactly is in the files everyone is still after 12 years later, and subsequently its difficult to image it being information anyone really cares about. While the brief bursts of action serve their purpose of saving the narrative from plunging into dreary monotony, the obviously retro-fitted fight scenes once Adkins came onboard don’t stretch to the finale, which can only be explained by Bol wanting to keep the ending as it was. That may have worked in the scripts original form, but once you’ve sprinkled a few fight scenes into the mix, the expectation is set that events will wrap up with one. They don’t, but even if Legacy of Lies had remained a ‘little’ thriller starring a producer who’d never acted before, it would still be an absolute wet leaf of an ending.
Not only do we get the journalist played by Yuliia Sobol appearing on a news program, in which she bizarrely breaks the fourth wall to deliver a to-camera monologue about the importance of free speech, it’s also revealed that Adkins is running a café named after his daughter, called ‘Lisa’s Vegan Snacks’. I admire any actor attempting to stretch their range, but really, does anyone watch a Scott Adkins movie expecting it to finish with him clearing tables in his own vegan café? There is a twist (don’t worry it doesn’t involve meat), but in terms of final reel derailments, Legacy of Lies is up there with the best of them. On the bright side, in 2020 Adkins also has collaborations on the cards with both Isaac Florentine (in the form of Seized) and Jesse V Johnson (in the form of Debt Collectors), so by the end of the year Legacy of Lies should just be another one of those ‘blips’ which will fade from memory.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 4/10
I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground since this movie was announced, and… oof. That’s a shame to hear it’s such a wet noodle. Although, I suppose their plan to attach a “bankable star” ultimately worked on me, because having Scott Adkins in it still makes me morbidly curious enough to watch it. I suppose I’ll save it for a cheap rent.
Your comment about the main character’s daughter being so annoying is probably the biggest turn-off for me. What’s the deal with movies having such unbelievable kids? It seems like they’re always portrayed as a super “idealized” version of a kid, always making remarks that are far more coherent, poignant, and sassy than any actual kid would make. Outside of a few notable exceptions like “The Florida Project”, I rarely see any movies where the children behave like, you know, actual children.
Also, thanks for alerting me to the existence of “Seized”, that one’s a surprise to me. If it has at least as much dumb fun as “Close Range” then it will probably be worth viewing.
Be careful of that morbid curiosity Mr. Hagen, the last time I succumbed to my own I ended up watching ‘The Driver’ (another Lionsgate distributed movie! I’m beginning to see a trend…)
You’re right about kids, particularly in this kind of action B-movie. We need a spin-off featuring Adkins daughter from ‘Legacy of Lies’ and Eric Roberts daughter from ‘Maximum Impact’, where they embark on an adventure through the Eastern Bloc to do battle with a villain played by either Steven Seagal or Mark Dacascos. Somebody pitch it.
‘Seized’ will feature Adkins alongside ‘Solo’ himself, Mario Van Peebles. What more could you ask for!?
Not just B-movies, but almost all movies in general. The kid characters seem stupidly unrealistic. But I guess I just have unreasonable expectations. You can only expect child actors to have so much authenticity.
Regarding Lionsgate… look at the DVD cover for “Legacy of Lies”. Now, compare it to the DVD cover for “The Driver”. Same design. Same color scheme. Same red stripe. Same character making the exact same pose, and even the same title font. Is there a lazy artist somewhere at Lionsgate who keeps recycling their movie art? Or, is there a much grander conspiracy involving shady overseers deep within the movie industry that we can’t even begin to fathom, hellbent on making all low-budget action films appear to be exactly the same? I’ll let you decide.
Damn CoF you just had to go break my heart like this huh ? 🙁 was really excited for this movie and sad to hear you guys didn’t like it, will still prolly watch it tho as last time I disagreed with your review of Re: Born and I enjoyed that immensely, still many thanks for the honest reviews guys, I love that as fans of action cinema and martial arts entertainment you still deliver sincere reviews of what you actually thought and don’t bend the knee to any bias for whatever reason, respect !
Thanks Andrew. At COF we put integrity first. Interviews with the cast, director etc. come a distant second. If we don’t like a movie, the review is guaranteed to reflect the same. That being said, we hope you enjoy ‘Legacy of Lies’ more than we did!
I guess I have to watch this with low expectations. I read that the movie won Best Film at the Miami Independent Film Festival, I guess I can’t hate it that much!
“I read that the movie won Best Film at the Miami Independent Film Festival”
Let’s just bear in mind that ‘Maximum Impact’ won the Action Film of the Year award at the Action on Film Festival as well.
The truth is some of these smaller film festivals dish out awards for the purpose of promoting themselves rather than the actual movie that’s ‘won’. I mean, would anyone have heard of the Miami Independent Film Festival if ‘Legacy of Lies’ hadn’t won Best Film?
I was just going to mention Maximum Impact, but I didn’t want to give it more attention. Haha.
I was hoping it wasn’t a similar deal. I’ve been reading comments saying that the movie is a Jason Bourne sequel “done right” because there’s no shaky cam. Somehow I’m guessing that wasn’t enough.
Well, according to an interview with the producer over at maactioncinema –
“We looked at Jason Bourne and thought “no” not gritty enough. Then we saw John Wick and thought, “nearly there.” But I have to say this is way edgier than that and the action is insane and literally non-stop.”
However in the same interview he also says the Russians came after him, that he bedded a Russian spy who travelled to Malaysia to warn him, and that the cage fighting scenes are unlike anything that’s been caught on film before. So, you know, pick your sources. 🙂
As far as I know Adrian’s original script “Truth ’99” is still somewhere out there, a friend of mine, who sends me unproduced scripts from blacklist and wherever else, read it once and thought it was a very good espionage thriller, I hadn’t payed much attention to it cause Scott wasn’t attached and it was just a script and wasn’t very action based so it just didn’t grab my attention, though he did say it was a very good script with a lot of emphasis on political intrigue, real history of Ukraine and Russia as well as MI6, and it was more in line with Kill The Messenger and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, tho admittedly not nearly as good as the latter, but still enjoyable.
I later learnt that it got turned into Legacy of Lies and starred Scott Adkins and I asked my friend to send me the script cause now I really wanted to know, since he couldn’t find me Legacy, he sent me that, and judging from this review and the trailer, about 85% of the film, the story, the characters, the thriller element and other aspects are now completely different, PERHAPS and again judging from Paul’s review and I haven’t seen the film yet, perhaps excluding that ending, cause there was a scene at the end in a cafe with the main character but he was not a waiter there or a chef or anything like that, nor was he Martin Baxter or British or an ex-MI6 agent, so yeah Paul is right on with this being retro-fitted for Adkins, which is sad cause had the original material been given to another actor and directed as Adrian prolly initially envisioned it, it might’ve been better on the whole.
Also yeah that whole producer bedding a Russian spy who flew over to Malaysia to warn him to seize production on the film, I dunno what to say, “Truth ’99” was VERY, VERY anti-Russian and may have been based on true events that occured in Ukraine in the 90s that might’ve had some truth about Russian secret service but his story is kinda sketch, despite being kinda hot for a straight male such as myself (how much do you wanna bet that scene with the prostitute was inspired/based on producer’s own hookup ?) still interested to see the full film.
Thanks for sharing these insights Andrew, very interesting stuff! Will definitely be keen to hear your thoughts on ‘Legacy of Lies’ once you’ve had the opportuntiy to check it out. Who knows, as you’ll be watching it with the additional context of what you’ve mentioned above, you may find it more of an enjoyable experience than I did.
Movie has won 4 awards. Such a same to hear this. Who paid these critics? Definitely not entering this site anymore…
So let me get this straight: If a movie wins 4 awards, are you saying this means that every single human being should think it’s good by default?
JJ Bona – Still awaiting the payment we agreed on for writing this review. You have my account details.
As soon as I clear payment with Jaashua, I’ll get that over to you.
It’s near impossible to produce consistently great output especially when you’re as prolific as Adkins, who seemingly possesses a work ethic as formidable as his kicks. I consider it nothing short of a minor miracle that we got 4 back-to-back superlative Adkins/Johnson collaborations like Accident Man, The Debt Collector, Triple Threat and Avengement.
Let’s not forget even Action Demi-Gods like Stallone and Schwarzenegger couldn’t consistently deliver gems. 1994-1996 saw Stallone bombing hard with a quartet of duds (The Specialist, Judge Dredd, Assassins, Daylight) and even the seemingly infallible Governator delivered 3 back to back flops like End Of Days,The 6th Day and Collateral Damage between 1999 and 2002.
KayKay, good stuff. However, there’s a fine line between “dud” and films that a leading man would be proud of. For instance, Assassins was a great movie, though it bombed at the box office (?). I’m sure Stallone speaks highly of it. Then there’s stuff like Incoming, where Adkins would most likely leave that out of his job interview.
Hi guys, I haven’t seen the film yet, but I’m a huge fan of Scott Adkins and I came across this interview on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WMzOHKEDbA
He seems to be very happy with the film and he actually chose the script because of the relationship between his character and his daughter. To me it seems to be a less action driven movie than he normally does, but more of a thriller. Having said that, Scott and Tim Man were working together on the fight scenes, so I definitely wanna see that!
I finally watched it on iTunes, and the movie isn’t very good. It’s better than Incoming, Legendary, and Zero Tolerance, but well below the Adkins Starter Pack.
I did think that the action scenes were decent. They didn’t break new ground but served their purpose. But everything else from Adkin’s Lisa Simpson daughter, the zombie wife visions, and Adkin’s going from being one step ahead of everyone to being dumb enough to get the drop on really bogged down the movie.
There was also a good amount of padding that served no purpose other than to make the movie more than 80 minutes. I want Scott Adkins to do more plot driven films, and I applaud the effort, but for me, this is a 5 out of 10.
Scott Adkins vs. his zombie wife – now that’s a movie I’d clock in for!
Seems like we’re on the same page with this one, it was just a little too plodding and pedestrian to be enjoyable.
It’s frustrating too since I feel like a script doctor could have fixed most of the problems. And what was with that grim ending? Are they considering a sequel?
It’s like a good movie was trying to exist, and it just wasn’t working.
I just watched it tonight as well. I think Paul’s rating of 4/10 is pretty accurate, although like you, I would probably be a tiny bit more generous and give it a 5/10.
Admittedly at some point I did start heckling the movie quite a bit, replacing some of the actors’ pedestrian dialog with my own “WHERE ARE ZE FILES?????” spoken in the most ridiculous Eastern European accent possible, because I’m pretty sure that’s all anyone cared about anyway.
I also laughed at the part where they’re in the bank vault, and they’re finally about to open these mythical “files” (which appear to be hermetically-sealed in some kind of special container that belongs in a Resident Evil game). Martin McDougall’s character suddenly urges, “Wait, don’t open it! What if it’s a trap? What if we’ve all been had?? What if it’s a bomb??? What if it’s FULL OF SPIDERS????” (I made up those last couple, but those were basically what I was expecting to hear next)
The climax was a bit predictable. At first, the thought of the 12-year-old girl getting out of the car and shooting the KGB lady only entered my head as a joke. Then remembered the “target practice” that Scott Adkins’s character oddly forced upon her earlier in the movie, and I realized, oh, yeah. That’s exactly what’s going to happen.
Grim ending? Maybe, but they definitely blew the door open for a sequel. Can’t imagine many people would be interested in one though.
Overall… I guess I had some fun with the movie, although some of it was certainly not the intentional kind. Ok, maybe I take back the 5/10 from earlier. It’s a solid 4.
Ok so I watched it as well, ordered my DVD copy of the film to add to my Adkins collection, now sitting at a lovely whopping 14 films. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah this one’s my least favorite outta that bunch, I agree with pretty much all the points Paul had made in his review, the movie is plodding, the pacing is off, Bol doesn’t utilise Adkins’ strengths correctly, though gotta hand it to Scott, he really puts his all in these movies and I’m sure he was excited for the role of a spy for once in his career, but Martin Baxter doesn’t have any personality, barely one, he’s not as smooth as James Bond, not as rugged and smart as Bourne, not as badass as John Wick, he’s sort of in the middle of that, not leaning into any which direction, making the character easily forgettable, still his presence is charismatic as always and endlessly watchable to me(I think I’m developing some sorta crush on Adkins I dunno), but the biggest praise I have to say has to go to Cinematographer Simon Rowling…. HOLY SHIT this guy did an amazing job with the lighting, camerawork and overall photography, this is if not for anything else, arguably Scott’s BEST LOOKING film to date outside his big budget ventures, so the film gets bonus points for delivering an excellent looking film with Adkins in the lead, very presentable. The fights ? 🙁 disappointing, there’s really only 2 fights in the film, both in the first half and only one of them(the one with Sua) is impressive, they’re extremely short and I woulda been fine with the gritty, grounded combat approach the film was taking, if Tim Man or the director wasn’t undercutting the fights so abruptly, just as things get into a good rhythm and feel, they end, and that’s twice as painful knowing the rest of the film after the fight with Sua offers mediocre gunfights and chase scenes(gun-fu action in the first half was good, but again short) and the chase scenes lacked proper framing to truly maximise the effect of the crashes.
Paul is right when he says Legacy of Lies is not an action movie, cause it tries so hard to retro-fit fight scenes into an otherwise low-key spy thriller that it never gives enough proper attention to the combat sequences and prolly put Tim Man in a rough spot or schedule do choreograph these fights. The rest of the cast is fine if not stellar, as a Georgian who knows Russian I was glad to see and hear some authentic Russian be spoken by some of the Russian cast, tho their english is not exactly of the same calibre of conviction, Martin McDougall was the best imo in terms of acting, Trevor was something of an interesting character with some fun quirks, his and Sua’s introductory scene with Martin is probably the highlight of the film in terms of delivery, I also didn’t mind the daughter played by Honor Kneafsey, I thought she was one of the better child actresses I’ve seen, especially in Adkins’ films(the Abduction and Eliminators’ daughters were far worse) and her quirk of being a fight analyst I thought was very cool and her interactions with Scott felt convincing to me(she definitely made the opening cage match a lot more emotionally driven, though what the fuck was with that cage fight, wasn’t there supposed to be a 2v1 fight against Scott in the cage as well as teased by the film’s facebook page image ? 3 fights are better than 2 and Tim is great at doing 2v1 fights).
Overall I’d give it a 6/10, I think it is nowhere NEAR as bad as Incoming or Zero Tolerance, from a cinematography perspective alone, but like Paul says when Seized comes out at the end of this year along with Debt Collectors that we got in May, this will really see like a blimp in Adkins’ filmography.
Andrew – You should really just write reviews. Thanks. I’m supporting Adkins no matter what I hear.
Thanks man ! I used to write ’em but then got to seeing so many films, I felt lazy to do one on every single one, but yeah supporting Adkins is great ! leads to better projects !
Thought I’d share this here, made a music video of Legacy of Lies, thought the song and the film fit ! Tell me what you think guys 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W07foqTRJqE&ab_channel=andrewmakatsaria
Man, that was some impressive editing! I wish the movie itself was half as exciting as the way your clip sells it. Nice work!
Thank you Paul much appreciated, yeah I wish the movie was good too, but my biggest heartbreak is coming in a few weeks dude 🙁 Seized !
Will you be reviewing Jackie Chan’s VANGUARD, Paul? It’s finally getting released here in Asia next week.
Once it hits Australian shores, I’ll be there!