Eliminators

Apparently defending one's self and family from three armed intruders breaking into one's home attempting to kill you and and your family in the UK is not the same as in the USA.

This is a fast paced action thriller with an anticipated twist, that is fairly well acted by Adkins, James Cosmo (of Braveheart fame) and WWE's Wade Barret.

Like stylish action thrillers since Bourne, it sees the protagonist as a fallen American hero in London. In Keeping with the zeitgeist, our hero and villain are tech savy and expertly trained in hand to hand combat. There is of course homage to the genre in the form of high speed antics in a classic German 'whip' (in this case a beautiful example of a 1984 BMW 635 csi). Night action around famed London landmarks adds to the element.

There is some empathy inducing, partial blurring of the good/bad divide through the character of the grandfather, but not the sort of moral dilemma that will hold attention after the credits role.

Certainly watchable, if more so for the visuals than the dialogue, and fairly engaging. The action choreography was quite decent and, as someone who has been on that side of production, lending a sense of 'believable' to the fight sequences.

Better than a Sunday afternoon 'fighty film'.

This is a basic action flick but it could and should have been so much better than it is although it would never be great.

Lots of poor and corny dialogue and poor decisions by the good guys. You know the sort of thing - not killing the baddie when you can and letting his escape. Yawn. Also the thing about the goody being shot but then doing martial arts, etc. as if nothing had happened. Thought this had gone out at least two decades ago. Yawn (again). Lots of drawn-out sequences. And plot holes and logic, particularly at the beginning and the end. Oh dear...

And what the title has to do with the story is anyone's guess. Although the producers probably thought it was better than ' A bit of editing could have improved it, but switch off any kind of logical thinking and, if you've nothing better to watch (and preferably if it's on TV), and you like Scott Adkins and his fighty arts, waste an hour and a half on it if you must.

At first I did not expect much from Eliminators. But As a fan of Scott Adkins brand of action, I'd say it ranks as one of his better films. This isn't the thinking man's type but more of a simple, straight forward, one man army 80/90s action movie . For that much it is entertaining and somewhat of a hidden gem. Adkins proves he is a solid yet underrated action star by providing some kick ass and innovative fights with some cool locations for it to take place in. Unlike most bland, low budget action films shot in eastern Europe this was actually shot in London which added to the movie. Sure, acting may not be a strength of the movie and the story may not be the most original but it is leaps and bounds better than other low budget DTV films like the crap washed up action stars like Seagal churn out every few months . Overall, Eliminators is a fairly decent entry into the sub-genre of the direct to DVD/VOD action movies. Adkins brings the goods and racks up a healthy body count and one of the better movies made by WWE studios.

7/10.

Everything you could want in an Adkins movie! Memorable fight and action sequences. Wade Barrett aka Stu Bennet makes a pretty menacing, serviceable villain. One that should have propelled Adkins into even bigger stardom.