Extraction: his name is Tyler Rake, and he kills a dude with a rake. 10/10, masterpiece.
Seriously though, this is extremely my shit. An action movie premise that is an 80:s throwback? Check. An opening that is basically a lighting and tone shift away from being MacGruber? Check. An utter commitment to choregraphy and practical stunts? Check.
It’s not best in class though - it doesn’t have the style and wit of a John Wick, it doesn’t have the stripped down nature of The Raid - or the the colorful suporting cast of the rest of the Indonesian fight movies. It’s just a throwback dumb action movie executed with utter self-seriousness and a ton a craft.
On the scale of throwback action movies with dodgy melodrama and action scenes the rest of the movie can never quite live up to, I’d rate it below Headshot - as impressive as the faux-one-take is, all that improvised weapon violence in the police station is just chef kiss - but above Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear - although the dojo fight was an actual one-take.
Also @tomchick, are you skipping listener feedback for now, or are the rest of the audience just dum-dums like me who meant towrite in but forgot?