Long Gone Heroes

Another day and another straight to streaming action film starring Frank Grillo. It is a shame as he is capable of much more when given decent material.

He plays, Gunner a jaded special forces soldier. He assembles a team to go to Venezuela to rescue his niece Julia, a crusading journalist. The neice also happens to be the daughter of a US Senator played by Oscar winner Melissa Leo.

Julia is held captive by local warlord called Roman (Andy Garcia) who wants his hands on some footage that she captured. He has an enforcer called Moreao (Mekhi Phifer) who has his own beef with Gunner.

The movie has some political statements regarding Venezuela and its issues with oil and corruption.

Apart from that. It is very much a seen it all generic action thriller. Although this one has a better quality cast.

Unfortunately it takes too long to get going and it needed to be 20 minutes shorter.

You also have to wonder why such a movie wants to have hissable baddies who threaten to kill babies with a gun.

What drew me to the film was seeing well known actor Mekhi Phifer in a scene with the venerated Andy Garcia. It's safe to say that both their screen times were very inadequate as their character development was shown poorly. Frank Grillo as the main protagonist was decent in his role and undoubtedly took the reigns the entire way. The dialogue was slowly dragging in most scenes and the action took too long to develop even though it was okay, very poor directing on both regards. I'm quite glad I didn't buy it, I strongly suggest that the viewer rent it instead, they'll be the better for it. This could've been way better than what it is. I'm only giving it 3 stars because of three things; Frank Grillo, the excellent shots that were taken throughout the film, and the action.

The only good part of the movie is when they speak really bad about the political situation in Venezuela and the government. After that, the movie is too bad, non of the landscapes are from Venezuela, they didn't make an effort staging Caracas, and come on... Colombian accents in every actor who speak spanish? We have good actors such as Edgar Ramirez, Wilmer Valderrama, etc..., and if you want a cheaper actor, please contact me, I could teach you all about my culture, how the military are, the expresions for high and low class people, even the cars and bikes are too wrong. Have they ever been to Venezuela? Or perhaps seen a yt video of the country? It wasn't that hard, was it?

(2024) Long Gone Heroes ACTION THRILLER

Co-written and directed by John Swab that has California senator, Olivia Peterson (Melissa Leo) contacting former special ops, Gunner (Frank Grillo) to come out of retirement to save her daughter and his niece, Julia (Eden Brolin) who happens to be a humanitarian worker/ reporter. He then puts together a team sending West (Beau Knapp) and Matty (George Carroll) to fetch a tech guy named David (Josh Hutcherson). Together they would then travel to South America as according to their intel she was being held captive by some dug cartels. But by the time they showed up, the entire cartel family were already been killed with an old friend, Guapo (Juan Pablo Raba) sitting down eating who eventually becomes a part of Gunner's special ops group. It was later revealed she has been kidnapped again by a militia group led by Roman (Andy Garcia) with his right hand man, Moreau (Mekhi Phifer).

In terms of the action and the tone, while I was watching this, reminded me of two movies that I thought are way more superior than this one- one is "Blackhawk Down" and the one fight scene reminded me of "Commando". One of the inconsistencies about this movie is the fact that Gunner and his special ops had opportunities taking a hummer or two and instead decide to run through the streets. That did not even make any since one of those vehicles even had a built in machine gun.

Great movie! You actually know what is going on from the beginning. So many movies just open with action & no lead in to the subject detail. This one is actually shows a connected story line that you understand to the end. Think of how many movies you have watched & asking 'who is that', 'why did he do that' or my fave, 'i did not get any of it' as the credits roll. The only ewwwy parts are when they are pointing guns at moms & babies. No babies were shot. But too much killing by bad humans is disturbing.

This movie will not disappoint. The acting is decent, it has a bit of humor & the bad guys get what they deserve. Perfect!