“One Shot” Theatrical Poster
Director: James Nunn
Cast: Scott Adkins, Ashley Greene, Ryan Phillippe, Emmanuel Imani, Dino Kelly, Lee Charles, Jack Parr, Waleed Elgadi, Terence Maynard, Jess Liaudin, Dan Styles
Running Time: 96 min.
By Paul Bramhall
As a fan of the action genre there’s something deeply admirable about the amount of effort that goes into creating a one-shot action scene. From the hospital shootout in John Woo’s Hard Boiled, to Tony Jaa’s restaurant rampage in Tom Yum Goong, the combination of timing, choreography, stamina, and camerawork has to come together just right to make it work. Today the one-shot action scene is still just as popular, but increasingly post-production digital assistance is used to effectively stitch a collection of shots together, giving the illusion of it being a genuine continuous shot. That’s not necessarily a criticism, with Charlize Theron’s stairwell fight in Atomic Blonde and Chris Hemsworth’s escape in Extraction being stellar examples of digitally assisted one-shot sequences, however to apply the one-shot principle to an action movie from start to finish is a daunting proposition.
It’s been tried before, with Ilya Naishuller’s Hardcore Henry using digital stitching to create a first-person one-take adrenaline rush in 2015, and more recently Tak Sakaguchi framing his 77-minute genuine one-take battle sequence to create Crazy Samurai Musashi with middling results. It would be in 2021 though when the busiest man in the DTV action genre, Scott Adkins, decided to try his hand at starring in a one-shot action movie. The appropriately titled One Shot reunites Adkins with director James Nunn, who he worked with on the underseen Eliminators, and the lamentable Green Street 3: Never Back Down. Since they last collaborated Nunn has kept himself busy in the DTV action genre helming The Marine 5: Battleground and The Marine 6: Close Quarters, so to see him reunited with Adkins is a big plus.
The plot involves Adkins leading a military unit who’ve been assigned to escort a civilian analyst responsible for extracting a suspected terrorist from a military black site on a remote island. The analyst, played by Ashley Greene (Accident Man, Twilight), believes her target knows the location of a bomb which is set to go off in Washington DC, and she has the leverage to convince him to stop it. She comes up against almost immediate resistance from the man in charge of the site, which sees Ryan Phillippe (Cruel Intentions, The Way of the Gun) in a supporting role, lending some 2000’s star power to a 2020’s DTV production. However their differing points of view are abruptly put on hold when a highly organised terrorist group led by Jess Liaudin (Big Brother, Skin Traffik) gate crash proceedings to capture the same target, and events quickly escalate into a battle of survival as Adkins and crew find themselves outnumbers and outgunned.
That’s the selling point of One Shot in a nutshell, and as a movie Nunn asks the audience to buy into the concept more than the plot. So forget about the fact that it’s never actually addressed how a group of terrorists arrive on a remote top-secret island in a truck. Forget about the fact that the number of bad guys versus the number of people who could physically fit in the truck is completely disproportionate. Forget about all of these things that the average movie-goer may well find unforgivable, and there’s actually a lot to enjoy in the tight 95-minute runtime. Nunn knows the one-shot gimmick can’t be stretched too far, so proceedings kick off right in the thick of it as we join Adkins and his team about to land on the island in a helicopter, and after 20 minutes of scene setting, the remainder is almost all action.
Adkins has been in workaholic mode since 2018, clocking in 4 movies a year either in starring or significant supporting roles (5 in 2020 if you want to include Dead Reckoning, and who wouldn’t?), however the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on in 2021, with only this and Castle Falls scheduled to be released. Absent from the screen since Max Cloud, there’s something undeniably reassuring about seeing him back in action, and his performance in One Shot as an experienced military man is a convincing one.
It also puts his physical talents to unique use, here not relying on his martial arts dexterity or high-flying kicks, but rather the stamina to maintain a physically demanding performance for the best part of over an hour. Called upon to run, crawl, throw himself out of windows, and get into various high intensity scuffles, there are times in One Shot when it feels like we’re watching a feature length version of his fantastic one-shot sequence from Universal Solider: Day of Reckoning almost 10 years ago. While arguably without the gimmick of the continuous shot what we’d be left with is a sub-par DTV flick that adds nothing to what’s already been done before, here Nunn manages to use the technique to elevate the material, having the trust to rest the weight of its success on Adkins shoulders.
While Adkins puts in the legwork (quite literally) in front of the camera, what can’t be denied is the technical accomplishments of those behind the camera. There’re barely any lulls for the duration of the runtime, with a constantly simmering level of tension and a sense of urgency consistently maintained even in the quieter moments, which is a feat in itself considering the camera never stops filming. The geography of the island is clearly conveyed, which is an arguably greater accomplishment considering how many action filmmakers fail at conveying space and distance, even when they have the luxury of multiple shots and editing techniques at their disposal (check out the finale of Vanguard for a perfect example). While nobody is clocking into a Scott Adkins movie for the acting, it should also be mentioned that One Shot contains some solid performances from a well-rounded cast, with a surprisingly affecting early death scene.
Nunn has made the smart move to bring in frequent Adkins collaborators Tim Man (Legacy of Lies, Abduction) and Dan Styles (I Am Vengeance: Retaliation, Avengement) as fight choreographer and stunt coordinator respectively, and the pair do an outstanding job of designing the action in front of camera. While the majority is military style shootouts (for anyone tiring of the John Wick-aesthetic, One Shot may be your antidote), it’s never less than thrilling as Adkins and his crew get picked off one by one by a seemingly re-generating army of bad guys (I’m sure I won’t be the only one who’s reminded of Panna Rittikrai’s 2004 Born to Fight remake in this regard!). Outside of the shootouts, highlights include Adkins going on a one-man mission to get to a comms room armed only with a dagger, in a sequence which recalls Jean Claude Van Damme’s similar one-shot sequence that closes out Universal Soldier: Regeneration.
While Adkins is limited to 2 brief one on ones against regular collaborator Lee Charles (Never Back Down: Revolt, Final Score) and Jess Liaudin as the main villain, both offer up blisteringly hard hitting exchanges that work perfectly within the context that the story takes place in. The fight against Liaudin in particular, as brief as it may be, feels like a glimpse into what most fans thought they’d get when it was announced Adkins would face off against Wu Jing in 2015’s Wolf Warrior. It’s fast, brutal, and the fact that they both perform during the latter half of such a long take is to be admired.
While One Shot is never going to win any prizes for its plot (and the holes that come with it), and definitely isn’t the movie to try and convert the uninitiated into the world of DTV action, for those that know what they’re letting themselves in for then there’s little here to complain about. A movie that works because of its one-shot gimmick rather than in spite of it, it’s a technically impressive accomplishment that doesn’t forget that it’s also there to entertain. It’s easy to see why fans hoping for a Boyka-styled performance from Adkins will be left disappointed by One Shot, however for everyone else that appreciates the amount of effort that goes into crafting an action movie, there’ll be plenty here to enjoy. My only hope now is that when people discuss Adkins appearances in military themed movies, they no longer need to bring up Jarhead 3: The Siege.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10
Awesome! I hope other Andrew didn’t lay the pressure down too hard to review One Shot!
I liked the movie very much. I actually laughed at how many henchmen were in the movie because it gave the impression that the truck they came in was a clown car.
Another aspect that I enjoyed was that you could see how tired Adkins would progressively get and how he had no time to catch his breath. It’s not something I’m used to seeing in his movies, and it made me wonder how his endurance level could stand it all.
I would give the movie a solid 8.
In the end the peer pressure got too much. 🙂
Agreed ‘One Shot’ was a lot of fun, it’d actually make an effective double-bill with the Korean flick ‘Take Point’ as structurally they’re both very similar.
The regenerating henchman thing was definitely funny. It’s the kind of trope that’d see it get ripped apart by the average movie goer, but somehow being a fan of the action genre allows us to accept such glaring contrivances since they amount to more of the good stuff!
Finally Paul ! Yes ! thank you for the review ! agreed 100% loved this film, I can now rest easy 🙂
Another great review, Paul.
Okay, Here’s my take: I watched this with my son and we were both pleasantly surprised by how good it is. The filmmakers and performers really put a ton of work into this, and it shows. They pull off some impressive stuff with makeup effects, fight choreography, and staging. It occasionally feels a bit “Golan Globus” (budget constraints show), but for the most part, it’s well-acted, and the soldiers behave in fairly realistic ways (there’s still some “are you kidding me?” moments where people do things that a civilian likely wouldn’t do, let alone a SEAL soldier). Scott is totally committed to the role (as usual) and gives it his all. I also dug that the lone female character didn’t wind up being an action movie cliche “lady in distress”. In addition, the story manages to get you somewhat emotionally involved in the characters, and there are some genuinely suspenseful sequences. Don’t expect Adkins to do any of his acrobatic kicking; his character is a Navy SEAL and fights in a manner befitting him. That being said, once ammo runs low there’s a fair amount of hand-to-hand and knife fighting which did not disappoint. Brutal and believable combat would be appreciated from a normal genre flick, but holy hell is it surprising and welcome from a film shot without cuts!
As Paul mentions above, we laughed about the number of bad guys too, commenting maybe there were two more trucks behind that one, but they just forgot to show us? And… also the boat they must have arrived on. Hahaha. It was like playing GTA4 and getting pinned down in my favorite retreat spot in the subway station, behind the elevators. You just mow ’em down as the endless supply of guys comes running down the steps and around the corner into my line of fire.
I was also reminded of UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING’s long, uncut sequence, along with ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, and even ALIENS (having to get to the transmitter in a different location while under siege. No sci-fi elements in ONE SHOT though).
We rented the film, but we’ll also each be purchasing the Blu-ray in a few weeks. It’ll be a welcome addition to our Scott Adkins physical media collections.