Director Brett Donowho has been in the shadows in Hollywood
for over 10 years mostly as a producer, having only directed a few films mostly shorts. His latest “Acts of Violence” seems to take a different approach toward “Taken”.
ACTS OF VIOLENCE stars Cole Hauser as Deklan MacGregor (the eldest brother), Shawn Ashmore as Brandon, and Ashton Holmes as Roman. Bruce Willis is the burned out Detective James Avery; Sophia Bush is sidelined as Detective Brooke Baker.
Three brothers, a crime lord and an honorable cop are set to violently cross paths when the youngest brother’s fiancée has an altercation with human traffickers and is grabbed in “Taken” fashion. The MacGregor boys use their military skills and the bond of family to fight back, in doing so they attract unwanted attention by both sides of the law.
Hauser’s Deklan is a battle harden war vet having issues with family and dealing with the less than stellar ways our country treats its war veterans. He comes to visit his brother’s and sister’s-in-law’s, all is well till they split up for the bachelor/bachelorette party. With the amount of filter’s VidAngel put in place for this scene it must have been quite graphic. Given the nature of the storyline and what follows I’m surprised this content was included in the movie.
Bruce Willis’s Detective Avery takes an interest in the brother’s case, having spent a lot of time tracking the head of traffickers, but politics and bureaucracy have hindered him from taking them down. So he and his partner Bush’s Detective Baker make an agreement with the brothers.
In regards too the story line nothing new here, it’s been done many times before. The acting was better than expected, even for Bruce Willis who’s been questionable in his past roles. My main complaint is that the film felt rushed Apart from the trio of brothers and Avery there isn’t much character development here.
The real kicker is the storyline with the rapid problem of sex-trafficking “Acts of Violence” and “Taken” deliver a heavy emotional toll.
On a lighter factual note Filming took only fifteen days and Bruce Willis was only on set for one day. The tiny cylinder implanted in the girl’s hand is too small to be a GPS tracking device. It resembles a RFID chip. The latest RFID technology is not GPS ready.
Rated R for violence, language throughout, sexuality/nudity and drug material
Now on VidAngel
I give it a B-
