Castle Falls

Castle Falls (2021) Was Worth The Wait. When Taekwondo Life Magazine spoke to Scott Adkins in June, 2020 the production of Castle Falls had come to a halt as the world shut down during the height of the Global Coronavirus Pandemic. Earlier this year production on the film resumed, and it is set to hit theaters on Friday 3, 2021. Castle Falls was worth the wait-it is very good.

The tightly scripted and efficiently directed film features Adkins and fellow martial artist and action star Dolph Lundgren. As both "down and out" men's paths cross in their quest for $3 million hidden in an abandoned hospital they find themselves having to elude a ruthless gang in search of the money. The situation is accelerated by the near imminent demolition of the hospital where the quest is underway forcing an alliance in order to survive.

While this film does not have the same humor and chemistry of Adkins' Debt Collector buddy films, it is still impressive to see these two martial arts action legends work together and play off of each other's strengths. They both do a good job individually, and together, in demonstrating their acting and action skills. This is a small film with a big heart.

As for the action; the film does not disappoint. There is plenty of action and well choreographed fighting, including the great scenes where Adkins and Lundgren face off against each other. For a 90 minute film the audience is treated to a great sampling of Scott Adkins' martial arts and Taekwondo acumen. He is one of the most fun action stars to watch, on the scene today.

Lundgren is the film's Director, and he does a very good job. The film is visually accessible, past faced, and fun to watch. I applaud Lundgren for his direct approach to the story, the action, and the fight choreography. The abandoned hospital provides a visually interesting setting for the majority of the film's action. This film balances the action and the drama for a highly watchable end product.

Dolph Lundgren should just stick to acting, because his directing was terrible. Many scenes were too long, bad angles, with lots of amateur mistakes. For example, how did Lundgren's eyeglasses stay on everytime he got punched in the face lol? Even the scene cuts were bad and were missing the pro elements an experienced director would know. He also didn't direct his cast properly, as some actors seemed lost, while others where just too overbearing. The fight scenes were too long and poorly choreographed for the most part, although the action was good. The 90 min runtime felt much longer with the slow pacing, and there was just too much filler and very little substance. The entire cat and mouse chases were dragged out and boring - up some stairs, down some stairs, in a room, out of a room... repeat. However the premise of the story by novice writer Andrew Knauer was actually very creative and enjoyable. I just wish it had more substance, and it needed some plot-issues tuning. The casting and acting were decent (albeit lacking direction), and Lundgren's acting was spot on. But the star here was Scott Adkins, who pretty much carried the entire film. The score wasn't bad for a B film, and the cinematography was good. Had this film been directed by a seasoned filmmaker, it would've been a hit. If you're a fan of Lundgren and/or Adkins, you'll enjoy this one. It's a 6/10 from me.

Yes, I watched that Apex abomination from Bruce Willis and I wondered how bad can this low budget ($1.5m) be, from our friends Lundgren and Adkins.

I was ready for a disaster and it did start slow and emotional, kind of depressing, but then it changed gears up and up, it got action, humor, blood, tears, in a more rounded package than the usual action movies.

The fights were violent and dirty, the way a street fight should be.

The ending was cooler than a big truck doing donuts at the golf course (on Bruce Willis retirement home) and then rolling coal on Bruce Willis! :D The lesson is that when underdogs get a windfall, it never comes in a silver plate, nope, it comes chained to two big raging bulldogs and it will take a lot of guts and blood to get it.

Castle Falls is tightly scripted and efficiently directed film features Adkins and Dolph Lundgren. It is impressive to see these two martial arts action legends work together and play off of each other's strengths; both give strong performances. As for the action; the film does not disappoint it has well choreographed impressive fight scenes. It delivers solid entertainment, thrilling action sequences, some nail-biting tension broken up with some comic moments. Castle Falls won't please everyone as some will surely complain that it is slow at first but I feel that it was needed to set up the actions of the characters and make the audience care for the outcome. This is a smaller budgeted affair so don't go in expecting huge action set pieces.

Castle Falls, an action thriller crafted in the old school 80's & 90's action style. Think of walter Hill's Trespass (1992) & Carpenter's They Live (1988) for style & setting with its abandoned building/hospital setting & two guys after some hidden loot with a gang there to hunt them & with it's blue collar construction working average-joe heroe's especially Scott Adkins. Definitely Adkins character from his outfit/wardrobe to him punching in & working as a drifter construction worker is inspired by Carpenter's Cult movie hero Nada played by Roddy Piper in They Live. Adkins is a huge fan of They Live in real life. Here the excellent Scott Adkins, who i consider to be the most underrated actor & action star working today!!!, plays an ex-MMA fighter, Mike who is down-on-his-luck & takes a job as part of a Demolition crew at a huge abandoned hospital scheduled to be demolished very soon. Adkins is such a likeable actor & here he's got his British accent which is Awesome & he steals the film of course & delivers his finest performance. Now, director & star Dolph Lundgren has used Adkins probably the best I've seen him, he's allowed to act with emotions but still does kick-ass the way he does & how we love.

Adkins discovers some bags of cash (about 3 million dollars) hidden within the hospital & comes back to get them but in that time we get more characters entering the abandoned building for that some money. The money was hidden there some time ago by drug dealing scum who want it back & also we get a struggling father who is there for that money to pay for his daughters cancer treatment. Legendary action star Dolph Lundgren is Richard, a desperate father & prison warden & fits into the role nicely & proves he's a fine actor as well as an action star. Of course Adkins' blue-collar worker & Lundgren's desperate father team-up to take out the drug dealers & keep the money & what we get is a stripped-down & old school style action thriller made on a small-budget but packs a big punch. Dolph Lundgren has given us character we really like & care about with real reasons for their actions & a huge building to play in. Films like this show that you do not need a ridiculous mega "Hollywood" budget to make a good action film. Dolph Lundgren should be very proud of his movie what he & his crew have pulled off with limited funds & restrictions.

The building is Awesome, a huge place full of floors & elevator shafts for our heroes to do action. The setting was a real location so it came with it's realistic gritty look & natural screen presence. Dolph has directed a damn good & entertaining little action thriller & i loved it's one place, contained setting & thrilling brutal fight scenes as said before, Dolph really knows how to use Adkins on screen & the two have worked together many times before (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Legendary, Expendables 2) & also Dolph shows he's a decent action director that has sprinkled his movie with drama & feeling. Yes Castle Falls is a low-budget B-movie really but a damn good one & it never out stays it's welcome with it's short running time, so yeah a damn good movie in my opinion. The look is of course pretty sharp looking as filmed with modern cameras but the story, style & characters feel old school.

I grew up watching & loving the action genre & consider Van Damme my favourite action star & think that Scott Adkins is pretty much the British version in some ways but of course he's his own Awesome action star in his own kick-ass right. Adkins would make the best Punisher or Batman ever.