Lights Out

Did you ever wonder who green-lights these scripts? The answer is, you wouldn't want to know who, or even how, because it would make you weep for the lost opportunity to make a proper film. Decades later, and the industry still has not grasped precisely what makes these films exciting, fun to watch, and profitable -- ie, the gradual escalation, growing anticipation, of the fights entirely for their own sake. Trying to complicate the story with hard drama or useless plot arcs is the fast track to ... nowhere. To see this done right, check out Charles Bronson in HARD TIMES 1975 (still works well a full half-century later!); or the surprise hit WARRIOR 2011, which coincidentally leads my IMDb list of best films. Frank Grillo at age 58 can still command the screen. But he deserves so much better than this. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

B movies should be fun and entertaining not trying to do Martin Scorcese. And why cast Scott Adkins if you're going to use him for five minutes?

There are at least ten different plots going on and none of them are good. Even the fight scenes are weak. Mekhi Pfeifer looks like he's been on a cheeseburger and pizza diet and Jaime King's hair is laugh out loud ridiculous.

This movie fails on every level. 85 minutes feels like three hours. This is a complete embarrassment for all involved. The director straight up steals the Jet Li Romeo Must Die X-Ray punch effects. And where did the 7 million budget go? Garbage.

Don't listen to the hate. Not quite a Blood N Bone but if you like similar action flicks to that, then you'll be happy investing 90mins of your time on Lights out.

There should be more movies similar to this that star Frank. Unsure why he doesn't have a catalogue boasting more titles. Great to see Scott involved, there's a similarity to where I would love to see Frank getting too. Nothing wrong with a 'B list' action movie, I'll take one of those every day of the week and twice on a Sunday. I'm now just waffling as for some reason short and punchy reviews aren't allowed. But yeah, check it out, unless you have ridiculous expectation I can't see you being disappointed.

Frank Grillo as a badass with impossible hair. Even after he slept he woke up with perfect hair? Little details, make a difference.

I didn't watch much of the trailer and did not realize that's based on "fight club", cage brawling.

The characters had potential, particularly the main baddies , but it all goes down like a dud firecracker.

Some of the plot at first was not so cohesive, for example, wondering who that guy was who was rummaging through that ladies house, only to find out that was her boyfriend? Very unlikely looking pair.

At the end of it all what I wanted to see was more of Scott Adkins who was barely in it. This was a Frank Grillo movie.

I came to see Scott, but it's not what I got.

So so film that lacked originality, suspense and true gripping action.

"I thought I was going to change the world, until the world changed me."

Lights Out is directed by Christian Sesma and stars Frank Grillo, Mekhi Phifer, Jamie King, Dermot Mulroney and Scott Adkins.

Follows Michael "Duffy" Duffield (Frank Grillo) a homeless ex soldier who is riddled with PTSD and who also happens to be a great fighter. He ends up attracting the attention of Ex-Con Max Bomer (Mekhi Phifer) who encourages him to start underground fighting to "let his anger out". Duffy quickly strikes up a relationship with Max's sister, Rachel (Erica Peeples) and her young daughter. It's also revealed that Max owes money to local LA crime boss Sage Parker (Dermot Mulroney) and things go from bad to worse once dirty cops (one of them played by Jamie King) start messing with Rachel.

For a B movie I thought this was above par and better than I expected. Frank Grillo is an underrated actor and if he wasn't the lead of this I don't think this film would have worked as well. The chemistry that him and Mekhi Phifer have together is probably the best part of this movie, they make for good co leads. It's rare to see DTV directors improve but between this and 2022's Section 8 I think it's pretty obvious that director Christian Sesma improved here or maybe working with Grillo and Adkins forced him to up his game. If you're watching this for Scott Adkins he has a very small role and only two scenes with Grillo here really. Also Dermot Mulroney seems to be in everything as of late but I thought he did a good job with his role here.

Where this movie falls apart is the whole dirty cop angle it becomes way too convoluted and I think that whole storyline could've been cut out of this movie entirely and Dermont Mulroney's character could've just been the main threat. Also Jamie King who plays one of the dirty cops wasn't really convincing in the role and never came across like a real threat. Overall though this is a fun, action filled B movie and if you just want to see Frank Grillo kicking ass you'll likely enjoy this. Also in my opinion this was a more enjoyable watch than both Madame Web and Argylle which are in theaters now so that has to count for something.