Shameless Self Expression

Milo Gibson plays an ex-Navy SEAL and supposed ‘war junkie’ who hasn’t been home to his family in a long time. Now he’s taking his place in a CIA-funded squad of mercs who do ‘off the books’ jobs, this despite Gibson preferring to be a loner. Of course. Alongside grizzled comrade William Fichtner and cocky new acquaintance Gbenga Akinnagbe they are to track down no-good turncoats Joseph Millson and Elliot Cowan, the former of whose life Gibson once saved. Now former CIA guy Cowan (who has become radicalised and apparently been aiding the Taliban, I might add) and Millson are involved in an arms exchange with some nasty Russians. Sylvia Hoeks plays Gibson’s tough-talking CIA handler.   I guess writer-director Matthew Hope ( “The Veteran” with Toby Kebbell) wanted Milo Gibson – son of Mad Mel – to be the next big thing in action with this 2018 action-thriller. Unfortunately Milo has none of his dad’s charisma, talent, or presence based on his efforts here and Hope brings nothing...

Future-set prison caper yarn has thief Rutger Hauer thrown into slimy warden Stephen Tobolowsky’s prison wherein prisoners are kept in line via collars rigged to explode if they are separated by more than 100 yards from a designated partner. Naturally, no one is supposed to know who their partner is. However, spunky Mimi Rogers claims to have bribed a guard into telling her who her partner is. Guess who that might be? James Remar and Joan Chen play Hauer’s double-crossing partner and lover respectively, Grand L. Bush plays another former associate who is slightly more trustworthy, while Glenn Plummer and Basil Wallace play fellow prisoners, one friendly, the latter anything but. Again, it won’t be hard to guess which is which there if you’re familiar with the actors.   Enjoyable 1991 Lewis Teague (the underrated “Cujo” , as well as “The Jewel of the Nile” ) TV movie is a sci-fi bent on “The Defiant Ones” with reliable work by Hauer, Tobolowsky (easy to hate), Wallace, and Rem...