Ryan Shoots First: Legacy of Lies
Scott Adkins how I’ve missed you… new to VOD and a limited theater run I suppose somewhere in the world is Legacy of Lies. Opening in the Ukraine this movie wastes no time as Adkins is seen in the first few seconds which got me thinking. How often is the star of the film the first face you see?
We see early on Adkins character Martin dealing with the Demons of a handoff gone horribly wrong. His daughter Lisa seems to run with him and at 12 years of age is quite the fire cracker. She is something of a MMA savant and is great at predicting who will win a fight. Anyone who follows BPA knows our in-depth analysis of betting scenarios in cinema and I will say the betting scene in this film is up there as one of the most comprehensive and realistic ones I have seen. There is a guy, at a table, and people walk up and place bets. There is even some banter about the odds and how fair they are. Well done.
Anyway Martin, who fights his underground MMA fights in blue jeans, is slipping and losing focus and even his 12 year old daughter can see it. While bouncing at a nearby club in London he is given the opportunity to make peace with his demons and get his life back on track.
Adkins always brings it, his dedication to every role is admirable. He also manages to explore different takes on his characters. From smooth secret agent, to no nonsense straight man, to whatever the hell bonkers Brit he is playing in Avengement. You can bank on Adkins. The characters surrounding him all bring something different, chief of which his daughter Lisa played by Honor Kneafsey, being the smart mouth girl who has been robbed of her childhood but adores her father. No two characters seem to be similar which is a nice change of pace as Martin moves down his road of redemption.
The movie is also timely! You have US relations with Russia and Ukraine being the middleman, covert affairs and yes, quid pro quo’s (and plenty of PERFECT phone calls). It even makes a hard turn at the end to make a statement on objective truth and reporting… not that it’s wrong but man did it come out of left field. It takes some pushing from everyone from Ukrainian babes and haunted corpses to finally get Martin back in the game but when he does all bets are off. Adkins ability to go from zero to maniac in an instant is on full display as everyone is in his crosshairs. The pace of the film has quite a few starts and stops but it never lulls for too much time. Whenever I started to become aware of it things would pick back up. It’s shot well, nothing too crazy or experimental and not a ton of close quick cuts making the action hard to see. The settings and locals are unique which helps sell the more static shots. It’s not too hard to see what’s going on which is nice in a world where some directors and editors learn a new trick and can’t help but use it at every turn like when you keep trying to work in that “word of the day” from your calendar.
Legacy of Lies is another solid outing from Adkins and his fans will enjoy it. It’s not quite Avengement which I hold high on my Adkins list but with the movie landscape absolutely barren it’s a welcome piece of fresh action. So whether you enjoy it at home or in whatever theater you managed to find that is playing it (be sure to mask up!) remember make your phone calls perfect and always get more than you give.
