Bullet Points: Risk Factor (2015)
To say I was late to the Loren Avedon party would be a major understatement. Fortunately for me, working for Bulletproof Action has afforded me the opportunity to experience the Avedon classics that I slept on back in the 1990’s like No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers and The King of the Kickboxers.
But while I was playing catch up with the Loren Avedon movies from the direct to video golden era, I managed to let the fact that Avedon made a movie in 2015 slip right by me. The movie was Risk Factor starring Loren Avedon and the master of the action movie team up, Jalal Mehri.
- Eve of Destruction: Jalal Mehri plays Alex Granger, a former reconnaissance photographer for the CIA, who now makes a living as a fashion photographer in New York City. But despite working with (and in some cases sleeping with) hot models, Granger is not the happiest man on the planet and finds it hard to sleep some nights with the haunting images of the things he witnessed in his previously line of work. Looking to capitalize on his former line of work is a beautiful woman named Eve Armitage (Elise Muller). Eve offers Alex $100,000 plus expenses for a one week “need to know basis” assignment… Eve’s visit to Alex does not go unnoticed by the CIA and more specifically Alex’s old co-worker, Rick D’Angelo (Loren Avedon).
- Friendly Fire: After his meeting with Eve, Alex gets a visit from his buddy Rick and the two greet each other bow fighting style! Rick claims he just wants to catch up with his old friend and offers to take Alex out to dinner, but Alex believes that Rick wants something… Alex’s hunch was right. Rick pitches Alex the idea of joining him on busting an arms deal . Alex turns Rick down, but does run the name of Eve Armitage by him to see if she is a known gun runner and in typical spy fashion, Rick acts like he has never heard of her.
- Deal with the Devil: Going against his better judgment, Alex takes the $100,000 job with Eve which means Alex Granger is back in the game baby!!! From here we get the usual tangled web that one would expect from a spy actioner… there is definite tension and mistrust between Eve and her underworld business associates…. there is underlying tension between Alex and Rick, first with Rick continuing to play dumb about Eve, while he is surveilling Alex the whole time… And there is some serious sexual tension between Eve and Alex (Eve wants to bone him bad!)
- The Man with a Plan: Once Alex arrives in Las Vegas, where his assignment for Eve will go down, Rick pays Alex another surprise visit and comes clean to Alex and shares everything he knows about Eve Armitage and the deal she has cooking that will give some nuclear weapons to some very bad people. Rick has a plan to make Alex his inside man and help him take down the bad guys and this is when business starts to pick up.
Risk Factor was practically a 95 minute infomercial for the benefits of practicing the martial arts. Both Jalal Mehri and Loren Avedon looked great and both proved they still have a place in the action movie game if they want it. And make no mistake about it, being a fan of either man is the primary reason anyone should be watching this movie.
I certainly hope Risk Factor is not the last hurrah for Avedon or Mehri… partly because I want to see more of these guys in action and partly because I’d like to see them have the chance to go out on a higher quality, bigger budget project with a stronger supporting cast.
What is the risk factor of me not including some Bonus Bullet Points in this review? On a scale of 1 to 10, the risk factor is zero…
- Love Child: One of the bad guys in the movie, Viginiy Gorkin (Lazar Rockwood) looks like the love child of Billy Drago and Penny Marshall.
- Favorite Quote: “Fuck you Eve… I’m sure you’ve heard that before.” – Alex Granger
- Action Movie First: Early on in the movie we see Rick D’Angelo go into a bar and start a fight after he insults a couple of women. Now a bar fight in an action movie is nothing new, but the fact that once it begins someone off camera exclaims “bar fight” certainly is.
- Budget Octagon: There are a couple of scenes that involve some underground fighting in Vegas, there’s no actual ring or UFC style Octagon… instead there is just tape on the floor in the shape of an octagon.
