A mother, Victoria, is trying to put her dark past as a Russian drug courier behind her, but retired cop Damon forces Victoria to do his bidding by holding her daughter hostage.
Chuck says:
I recently wrote a review in which I noted that sometimes good actors make bad movies. For the most part, I don’t think they do this on purpose. I think a script comes along they feel they may be able to elevate through hard work with their fellow cast members and that perhaps an in-production rewrite will help smooth over some obvious rough patches. Of course, this doesn’t always happen, expectations are dashed, potential isn’t realized and you regret the $10 you spent while I rue the time I wasted.
Then there are paycheck movies, which are different from bad movies. The talent involved knows full-well the script they’ve signed on for isn’t worth the paper it’s written on yet the temptation of a fat check or other perks compel them to throw reason, their reputation and good taste aside. (Note: I have great admiration for the actress Famke Janssen. In an interview some years back she admitted that the only reason she made “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” was that she needed a new kitchen and her fee for the film would allow her to achieve that goal. Ironically, she was the best thing about that movie – I guess the prospect of that new kitchen put a little pep in her performance. But I digress…)
Which brings me to George Gallo’s “Vanquish” which is not only the worst film I’ve seen this year, but perhaps in the last decade. Now, I could be wrong about this, as my memory is not what it once was and studies show that as a defense mechanism, our brains tend to suppress traumatic experiences. I’m hoping this will be scrubbed from my mind as soon as possible.
While Morgan Freeman is not the star of this abomination, he’s the biggest name, the Oscar-winner slumming as a dirty retired cop with some old scores to settle. (Note: Fellow Oscar-winner Michael Caine was no stranger to making paycheck movies, chief among them “Jaws: The Revenge.” He admitted he made that film because he’d never been to Hawaii where it was being shot. How, at the age of 54, international movie star Michael Caine had never been to Hawaii before is a question to ponder another day. But I digress…)
While I think a large paycheck must have enticed Freeman to make this film, there’s another perk that must have been appealing – he never has to stand. His character Damon is in a wheelchair throughout, rolling about his modernistic mansion, bathed in cool blues and seductive blacks, scowling again and again as he sees the outside world through the eyes of a surrogate.
That would be Victoria (Ruby Rose, all attitude and little else), his caretaker who went to the same finishing school as Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills from the “Taken” franchise. She has the same “particular set of skills.” She also has a sick daughter who Damon’s holding hostage until she completes five trips to pick up large sums of money from various nefarious characters.
Of course, each trip ends in violence, frantically cut together to obscure the ineptitude of their staging. Cryptic dialogue expressing half-thoughts are spoken throughout, implying great menace and import, failing to obscure Gallo’s lazy writing. The story is repetitious, performances stiff and “Vanquish” doesn’t even do us the service of being so bad it’s laughable. No, it’s just embarrassing, much like the time Bruce Willis nearly committed career suicide with “Hudson Hawk.” (He would later say about the experience that he thought he was making a classic for the ages. Ah, how deluded we all can be…but I digress…)
Zero Stars
Pam says: I fell for the hook–Morgan Freeman. After the first 15 minutes, I was sure that Mr. Freeman took on this role to help a new filmmaker, perhaps a friend who asked for a little help. Much to my surprise, the writer and director, George Gallo, is a seasoned creator with an impressive resume. “Vanquish” is not the calibre of film one would expect from a filmmaker such as Gallo.
The premise of the film is one-dimensional and a repetitive one at that. We’ve got a heroic and decorated cop, Damon (Freeman) who finds himself confined to a wheelchair. His caregiver, Victoria (Ruby Rose), has a sordid and buried past whose primary focus is her sickly child and being there for her charge. Damon, the pure as driven snow ex-cop, kidnaps Victoria’s child (how, I will never know) and forces Victoria back into her world of crime. To get her child back, she must complete 5 pick ups and of course, these all end in a blood bath.
To give this film much more time in a review is doing myself a disservice. Suffice it to say that the performances are wooden, the sophomoric script repetitive, and the editing a nightmare. I felt seasick as I watched the jump-cuts and the rapid fire scene changes that had no bearing on the story. There’s no tension, no character development, no narrative arc, just a veiled display of style to cover up the fact that there’s no depth or substance below. “Vanquish” is a total disaster that not even the likes of Mr. Freeman can save.
Zero Stars
