Bullet Points: All the Devil’s Men

We often find that there are beautiful things in the strangest of places. A rose growing from the concrete, a shooting star blazing its way beyond the smog, a wonderful pair of knockers on a hot babe standing in line at the BMV. It’s as if life is just playing tricks on us to keep us on our toes. Film is the same way. I’ve seen some pretty terrible movies have excellent performances from actors or amazing action scenes sprinkled in. That’s why it’s important to just watch tons of action movies. You never know what you might find.

Synopsis: A battle-scarred War on Terror bounty hunter is forced to go to London on a manhunt for a disavowed CIA operative, which leads him into a deadly running battle with a former military comrade and his private army.

• Meet Milo: In his first starring role, Milo Gibson plays Jack Collins, a CIA operative who is dealing with the demons of past wars and still trying to accomplish his missions. He’s a man who seemingly believes in the cause. Whether it’s misguided or not, Collins is the kind of man that follows orders and that can be a very valuable or very dangerous thing in this world.
• Milo and Gbenga: Collins soon gets a new mission working alongside Brennan (William Fichtner) and Samuelson (Gbenga Akinnagbe) to take out a terrorist named McKnight. All three of the men are familiar with some of the pieces now in front of them and we get a glimpse into the crazy world of espionage as it’s impossible to tell who can be trusted.

• Shadow Warriors: The action scenes are freaking crisp in All the Devil’s Men. Director Matthew Hope has cut his teeth on movies like The Vanguard and The Veteran and it seems as though he has a pretty good grasp on what he’s doing. Gibson and Akinnagbe work really well together as they do battle against some ski mask-wearing henchmen. The movements, the reloads, and the tactical shit going on during the action scenes gave me a big action stiffy.
• The Evil of Greed: While their main target is McKnight, Joseph Millson’s Deighton is the main nemesis for Collings throughout the movie. He’s a former colleague and friend of Jack’s but now he’s clearly just a cold-hearted mercenary. Deighton makes life hell for the team of CIA agents as he always seems to be one step ahead of them. Millson’s work is really fun to watch, as well. He’s both brains and brawn.

• The Old Fashioned Way: No matter how covert you may be, eventually it’s going to come down to just a few guys with guns. That’s what happens when Collins and Samuelson get forced into a situation where they’re facing a whole bunch of men.
• Double Crossing: You had to know a movie featuring a bunch of covert operatives and mercenaries was going to have some serious double crossings. We certainly get to see where the loyalties of each man lie by the end of the film.

• Whatever it Takes: Sylvia Hoeks plays Leigh, who is the handler/boss of Collins and the one who is pulling the strings on the mission. Her own past has given her plenty of reasons to want the mission completed but it also creates a dilemma for the powerful woman.

The Verdict: It wasn’t until the first few scenes of the movie were over that I started to really get into it. I thought that Milo looked just like every other actor with a beard over the past five years but he definitely came into his own by the meaty parts of the film. The action was really great, too. The movements are crisp and so is the camera work. The one thing the movie lacked was a character that brought the story back into real life. Everyone in the movie was some sort of covert agent or something and it felt almost too normalized. That doesn’t mean I wanted Rob Schneider to pop up or anything but there were points in the film where a break was needed. Overall, though, I was extremely impressed with the movie and would most definitely recommend it to any action/espionage fan.