The Doorman - Tödlicher Empfang

The Doorman (2020) is fairly typical of low-budget direct-to-video made-in-Eastern-Europe fare. Production values are better than average for similar films. The actors do as well as can be expected with the material they're provided. But the screenplay is uninspired, with far too many coincidences, contrivances, and familiar tropes. The movie seems very similar to Force of Nature (2020), starring Mel Gibson, which also suffered from far too many coincidences.

Ruby Rose handles her fight scenes fairly well, but could have been replaced by a department store mannequin in some of the other scenes. Jean Reno delivers an effortless performance as the villain, which is nevertheless interesting to watch. Aksel Hennie, Rupert Evans, and Philip Whitchurch deliver credible performances. Some scenes drag; many are predictable. It's what might be termed a multi-tasking video, one that can be watched while doing something else without missing much.

Normally I'm a very forgiving person when it comes to movie like The Doorman and just Die Hard rip off movies in general but when you got a pretty stacked cast and Ryuhei fricking Kitamura as the director and the result is just another bargain bin action flick then what are you even doing here? I mean Ruby Rose as a lead action heroine is not a bad choice when she can pull out some believable action scenes but beside her everyone from Dan Southworth, Louis Mandylor, and Jean Reno they all acting like they don't even want to be in this movie, to be honest. There not a glimpse of Ryuhei's over the top filming style up until the final act and even it can't even save the whole goddamn movie from itself. I hope this movie is just a quick warm-up for Ryuhei Kitamura before he goes on and directs that Versus remake cause I'm definitely not buying this one.

This movie is basically Die Hard if the writers, director, and editor were all drunk. And I don't care how low budget your movie is, you should still sport for a military consultant/choreographer in your action film about a ex-military hero.

Bad acting and dull. Another B movie I wouldnt recommend.

People could call this a cheap movie (by hollywood standards).. I'd say it has more of an indie-feel.. With sloppy camera work that makes a mess of action scenes, and boring interactions and dialogue. This is one of those that isn't worth watching for any reason. You won't learn anything, isn't fun to criticize, and will be forgotten the next day. The plot is as simple as it could be summarized in one line of text, and none of the characters are decent or memorable (not even the little girl who you are supposed to like).. with the exception of Jean Reno, maybe, who poses as a smart and calculating villain. He does a fine job, but for his resume, it is rather lacking.

I wouldn't recommend it, not even for the action. It's too average in every department.