Director: Michael Merino, Daniel Zirilli
Writer: Michael Merino (Screenplay)
Starring: Natalie Burn, Sean Patrick Flanery, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Liddell, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Danny Trejo, Al Sapienza
Plot: A mom has one night to do some tasks in LA requiring a gun, if she wants to see her son alive. He’s held by a mob boss.
Tagline – Action Has Never Been This Fast
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Late Night Action 101
Story: Acceleration starts as we meet Rhona (Burn) driving around town completing tasks for Vladik (Lundgren), she must complete these tasks to see her son again, which sees her action grab the attention of other local gang leaders, including Kane (Flanery), who gives her a warning about her action.
Rhona keeps going through the night, however reluctant she is to do so, which leads her to continue to kill, to make sure her son if safe, dealing with all the different lowlife criminals in the town.
Thoughts on Acceleration
Characters – Rhona is being forced into becoming a personal hitwoman for the night, she has all the skills to beat anyone in fights, being it hand to hand or weapons, she only wants to save her son, with this being the only option for her, she does have the connections to make it through this world without needing to leave everybody dead, racing against the clock to do so. Vladik is the man who has taken Rhona’s son, he sets her the tasks, with each offering up a different problem for her to face, he has his own reasons for completing these tasks. Kane is rival mobster who is never given anyone he takes a chance to survive, he kills with a smile on his face whenever he wants. We do get to meet a host of other criminals ranging from dealers, traffickers or just hitmen that Rhona must engage along the way.
Performances – Natalie Burn in the leading role handles all the action with ease, she is great at this, though she does let her accent slip at times through the film. Dolph Lundgren is always an easy watch, he doesn’t need to do too much in the film, while Sean Patrick Flanery looks like he is having a great time as a villain in the film.
Story – The story here follows one woman that is being forced into completing a series of tasks over one night for a criminal that has taken her son, with each one offering new obstacles along the way. When it comes to action, we do need the simple ideas, of seeing one person needing to complete tasks, it is fun to watch because it is a tried and tested formula for a story, it does feel like a trimmed down version of many films we have seen before and by the end everything will have added up, with the single night to complete everything adding to the story.
Action – The action in the film is a mix of different fights, be it hand to hand or weapons heavy, each works well, though we get hits of high-speed driving, without seeing any.
Settings – The film is set in one single city, which does show how Rhona is traveling to different locations to make sure she can get her targets.
Scene of the Movie – The drug dealer fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We never seem to feel like it is race against time, like it is meant to be.
Final Thoughts – This is an easy watch action film that doesn’t push everything to the limits like it could, with an all-star action heavy cast.
Overall: Easy Action Film.
