Reprisal – Entertaining Action Film
Director: Brian A Miller
Writer: Bryce Hammons (Screenplay)
Starring: Bruce Willis, Frank Grillo, Johnathon Schaech, Olivia Culpo, Natali Yura
Plot: A bank manager haunted by a violent heist that took the life of a coworker teams up with his ex-cop neighbor to bring down the assailant, initiating an explosive counterattack that brings all three men to the breaking point.
Tagline – A Life for a Life
Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Reprisal starts when bank manager Jacob (Grillo) sees his bank robbed at gunpoint by Gabriel (Schaech) leaving one member of his security team dead, causing Jacob to suffer nightmares about what happened, while the suspect escapes free.
Turning to his neighbor James (Willis) an ex-cop to help investigate the cases, which will see the three of them getting caught up in a game of cat-n-mouse involving Jacob’s family.
Thoughts on Reprisal
Characters & Performances – Jacob is a mild-mannered bank manager who has always been committed to his job, his staff and his family, he finds himself in the middle of a bank robbery, which will see people die, causing him trauma and unable to return to work. He turns to his neighbor for help as he starts to investigate the person himself tracking them around the city to try and stop the latest crime. Frank Grillo does a strong job here, we are used him being the villain in crime movies recently, but seeing him on the right side of the law shows him in a more caring manor. James is the ex-cop neighbor who offers to help Jacob through his experience offering him someone to talk too, before turning into someone who will help him track the criminal down. Bruce Willis does well in this role, it is one of his better recent performances, which he often gets questioned on his commitment. Gabriel is the calculated bank robbery, he plans his attacks down with no communication through words and he will make sure he gets in and out without being seen, he will kill is needed and is doing this for his own reasons, this is one of the characters weaknesses, we just don’t get a full reason for the amount of robberies he is doing, he isn’t afraid to get into a gun battle though, a place he seems comfortable in. Johnathon Schaech does gives us a villain we could fear, with his ruthless nature to everything his character is doing on the criminal side.
Story – The story here follows a bank manager who turns to his ex-cop neighbor to track down the man who robbed and killed in his bank before he strikes again and to recover from the trauma caused by the event. This is a by the book revenge style movie, seeing the innocent victim turning to his own form of vigilantism to get the person that wronged him, the fact he solves the case so easily compared to the FBI who have been tracking him down for a while now, is surprising and is easily a plot point we can over look. Everything does unfold well, with the ruthless nature of Gabriel shining through, even if we don’t get a firm enough spotlight on his motivations.
Themes – Reprisal is a tidy action film with relentless action be it chases, gunfights or robberies, that will keep us engaged in the cat-n-mouse battle between the two sides, which will take them across the big city, where the criminal is operating in.
Reprisal is an easy to watch late night action treat that will keep you entertained and engaged from start to finish.