Bullet Points: Close Range
After Wolf Warrior left me wanting more Scott Adkins action. And after the producers of Zero Tolerance had me completely disgusted with their bait and switch tactics to lure unsuspecting fans of Scott Adkins into watching their abysmal movie, Close Range proved to be the Scott Adkins movie I had been waiting for!
- MacReady For Some Action?: Before the opening credits even hit the screen we witness Colt MacReady (Scott Adkins) infiltrate a Mexican drug cartel’s hang out and take out at least 8 cartel soldiers with nothing but a blade and his bare hands. MacReady is there looking for a teenage girl who has been kidnapped by the cartel. He finds the girl and ends up with a very valuable flash drive in the process. Talk about a hot start!
- Question Answered: You may be asking yourself, who is this girl and why was Colt so hell bent on rescuing her? We learn that the girl in question is Colt’s niece, Hailey (Madison Lawlor). Hailey found herself being used as a pawn between the drug cartel and Hailey’s no good step father, Walt. It seems that Walt, who helps the cartel move their drugs from Mexico to the United States, took something from the cartel that did not belong to him, so they took something from Walt.
- Home Sweet Home: Colt returns Hailey home to her mother (and his sister) Angela. And he advises the ladies that a sh*t storm is heading their way and they need to get out of Dodge or in this case, Santa Cruz County, Arizona. Colt’s prediction was right on the money, the Mexican drug cartel known as the Antibalas Cartel is looking for two things. 1) Revenge on the gringo who killed their men including the boss’s nephew Victor and 2) The flash drive that contains all their valuable drug dealing information, like bank accounts, location of their stash houses, etc. I believe Colt said it best when he said the flash drive contained “drug dealer sh*t”.
- Dirty Cop: Unfortunately for the MacReady clan, the boss of the Antibalas Cartel, Fernando “Jefe” Garcia has the local sheriff in his back pocket. So before the Cartel even shows up at the MacReady ranch, Sheriff Jasper Calloway (Nick Chinlund) and his deputies show up looking to detain Colt until Garcia and his army arrive. Side note: Nick Chinlund may look familiar to fans of the action genre, he had roles in Lethal Weapon 3, Army of One, Eraser and Con Air.
- On The Run: When the cops show up and his no good brother in law Walt stooges on Colt, Colt takes off, which is nothing new for him. Colt has been on the run ever since he was dishonorably discharged while serving in Iraq. Since then he has been working as a mercenary and chalking up arrest warrants along the way. But while Colt is evading the law, Fernando Garcia and 10 of his best soldiers show up and take Angela and Hailey hostage setting up an against all odds battle between Colt and the Antibalas Cartel!
If you are looking for action, Close Range is a movie you want to see. I would say 97% percent of its 80 minute run time is pure action. There’s no time for one of those action movie romantic subplots or even a military flashback with Colt and his derelict commanding officer (which was surprising). There’s not even time for a getting ready for battle montage!
Close Range is not the breakout role Scott Adkins could use to advance his career and win over a larger audience, but for those of us who are already fans, Close Range allows Adkins to showcase his physicality and the fact that he is a real deal action star. Again, this movie is 97% action, so we get plenty of hand to hand combat from Adkins, a great shootout, there’s even a car chase and one small explosion.
In honor of the hail of bullets in Close Range, allow me to share a few bonus Bullet Points…
- Most Hated: Beating out the dirty cop, the drug cartel boss and all of the cartel soldiers for the most hated character in Close Range is Walt Reynolds (Jake La Botz). Walt is a weasel. I wanted to see Colt dispose of Walt mere seconds after Walt made his first on screen appearance.
- Tough Chick: Colt’s sister Angela (Caitlin Keats) may have bad taste in second husbands (she married Walt?!?!?) but she is pretty handy with a gun. This skill comes in handy when Colt gets into a shootout with the cartel.
- Reunited: Close Range reunites director Isaac Florentine and star Scott Adkins. Close Range would be the fifth pairing for Adkins and Florentine. The duo previously worked together in Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, Ninja, Undisputed 3: Redemption and Ninja: Shadow of a Tear.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Scott Adkins kill a man by stabbing him in the taint, then this is the movie for you!
- Where’s the Helicopter?: Despite there being a helicopter on the Close Range poster, there is no helicopter in the movie.
