Yahoo Movies Is Netflix's Point Blank, starring Marvel's Anthony Mackie, worth watching?
Anthony Mackie is having a moment. From taking over the mantle of Captain America at the close of Avengers: Endgame to a starring role in the satirically dystopian Black Mirror, he is everywhere.
Including Netflix's latest action movie Point Blank.
No, this is not a sequel to Point Break. It has nothing to do with Grosse Pointe Blank. It's not even related to the Lee Marvin classic Point Blank, the Mel Gibson remake Payback or even the Mickey Rourke film Point Blank. In fact, it's a remake of an acclaimed 2010 French movie called À Bout Portant, directed by Fred Cavayé.
The American remake also stars Frank Grillo as Abe, a murderer for hire, framed for the killing of an Ohio district attorney. Together he and Paul (Mackie), a nurse, are forced into a tenuous partnership as they take down dirty cops and save Paul's pregnant wife Taryn (Teyonah Parris).
A convoluted premise, uninspired action scenes, too few moments of humour, and forced intimacy between its characters hold Point Blank back from being what it wants to be: Taken meets The Odd Couple. Which, to be honest, sounds great.
Each scene in Point Blank proceeds as if it's forgotten the scene before it. This leads to a confusing plot and unbelievable relationship budding between Paul and Abe as heroes in a wider conspiracy theory plaguing the city of Cincinnati.
Instead of being thrilling, it's performative. Each box along the action-thriller to-do list gets checked off including the third act 'big twist' which will only come as a surprise if you spent the first half of the movie looking at your phone.
Which, if you did, don't worry, you probably weren't alone.
The movie struggles to keep your focus. Taryn's kidnapping and the imminent danger to her and her unborn barely seem to hold Paul's attention, let alone an audience's.
There are glimpses of comedic talent and meta-cultural criticism laced in, mostly in the form of Big D (Markice Moore), the gangster to whom Abe owes money. Why this matters to the overarching narrative is barely cleared up.
Marcia Gay Harden brings her particular brand of tension and gravitas to the movie. However, she is let down by being a plot device instead of a fully rounded character with motivation for her actions.
For movie lovers, Big D's running commentary will at least induce a few chuckles (but even his lines suffer from the same amnesia that plagues the plot).
The violence, which should garner some empathetic groans, elicits nothing. There's even a fight in a car wash, but despite a setting rife for interesting choreography, there is nothing more than your standard grunt, punch, fall. So maybe watch the French original instead.
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