Black Lotus

Black Lotus is a film that tries to capture the essence of a Hollywood action flick, but unfortunately falls short of the mark. The film begins with a Dutch cast speaking English, some with strong accents and others with none at all, making for an awkward and uneven start. The first half of the film sees Matteo's character, played by Rico Verhoeven, new to acting but unfortunately barely speaking and feeling like an afterthought or an intern who was given a bit part. However, the second half of the film sees a noticeable improvement in Rico's performance, showing more confidence and delivering a better portrayal of his character.

Production-wise, the film lacks the necessary polish, with many shots feeling basic and not cinematic enough. Low-end color grading is evident in some scenes, with clear transitions and masks showing up in post-production. The editing is passable, but at times can be jarring, with some action scenes that are choppy and hard to follow, leaving the viewer feeling lost and unable to fully engage with the plot.

The plot itself is decent, following the story of a friend of a deceased father returning to the lives of a Dutch family, only to find himself in trouble with the new stepfather. The film follows the story of Matteo, played by Rico Verhoeven, who finds himself in trouble after getting involved with the new stepfather in the Dutch family. He must rescue the young daughter of the family from a kidnapping, leading to a series of action-packed scenes. While the story has its moments, there are several awkward plot points and strange character decisions that leave the viewer feeling frustrated and disconnected from the film.

While Matteo, played by Rico Verhoeven, shows improvement in his performance throughout Black Lotus, he still has a long way to go if he wants to reach the level of legendary action stars like The Rock and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's clear that Verhoeven has potential, but he needs more training and experience to refine his skills and become a more compelling and convincing actor on screen. With the right guidance and dedication, Verhoeven may one day become a force to be reckoned with in the world of action films.

Further more on the positive side, the film does offer some entertaining action scenes that are exciting and have a level of intensity similar to that of a Hollywood blockbuster. However, these scenes can be overshadowed by the film's other shortcomings, such as the confusing editing and uneven acting performances.

In addition to the plot, the film also showcases some beautiful cinematography that captures the Dutch landscape and its unique architecture. However, the visual appeal is often undermined by the film's poor editing and lack of continuity, leaving the viewer feeling disoriented and confused.

The film's soundtrack also adds to the experience, with a mix of Dutch and international artists creating a high-energy and intense atmosphere. However, the sound mixing is inconsistent at times, with some scenes being too loud or too quiet.

Furthermore, Black Lotus attempts to incorporate themes of family, loyalty, and redemption, but these themes are not fully developed or explored, resulting in a shallow and superficial portrayal of these concepts.

Overall, while the film has its moments, it ultimately falls short due to its uneven acting, poor production quality, and lack of cohesive storytelling. If you are a fan of action movies, you may find some enjoyment in the film, but for those looking for a more polished and cohesive production, this film may not be worth the price of admission.

On the surface Black Lotus seems like the type of movie Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jean-Claude van Damme would've starred in when they were in their prime. Unfortunately even by those standards this movie falls short. I knew this would be rough to sit through when we get an opening sequence that seems like it's trying to rip off Christopher Nolan's Tenet although it's no where near as good. You know those foreign action movies on Netflix that look really bad from every perspective except for the action and some flashy visuals? Black Lotus is essentially the same quality as one of those Netflix foreign action movies. Maybe slightly worse.

The acting from everyone including Rico isn't good. (Although it was hard to tell if some actors were dubbed or not.) Frank Grillo is the only one here who actually felt like a professional. Speaking of Frank Grillo by this point I think he's above doing movies like this so I can only assume he had bills to pay or something. So bad writing, bad acting for the most part. Well at least Rico Verhoeven can sell you on being a badass action star right? Wrong. With better writing and a better director maybe. Also I thought Rona Lee Shimon who's the female lead here and best known for Netflix's Fauda came off more badass here than Rico did.

I didnt expect much from this movie, but I started watching it anyway because of the presence of Frank Grillo, who usually only stars in the better B-movies, but not this time around...

The bad: this is amateur night. It has got the look and feel of a cheaply produced television production and everything you can think of is below average.

Starting with a TON of terrible supporting actors. And the leading actors are void of any charisma. Frank Grillo only stars in this picture for a few minutes in a small supporting role.

Not any good then? I can say with 100% certainty that this movie aint any good whatsoever.

It's difficult to find the words to describe just how bad this movie is. The acting of everyone is abismal but I guess it's hard to act when the script is done by a beta version of ChatGPT that was trained on the worst B-movies of the 80s. There's even a shameless ripoff scene of the classic movie Amsterdamned (watch that one instead!) where a corpse is dragged over a sightseeing canalboat.

The cinematography is crap and it looks like they could afford 1 drone but were not allowed to fly it so they took quick illegals shots on 4 locations that you keep seeing.

And the action.... WHERE IS THE ACTION?!

There's I think 5 minutes worth of scenes that could be called 'action scenes'.

I understand Rico Verhoeven has a dream to make it as an actor! But is there no one who can tell him he simply has no screen presence nor charisma on the big screen. Even if the the script, dialogue, direction and other elements were on point this still would've been a bust! Frank Grillo is a solid actor with some good work under his belt. Rico has the same but not in acting! It is remarkable that no one slammed the breaks on this train wreck. Rico seems to be a stand up guy with qualities but this is not it. Action stars are seldomly great actors but they often have a presence that compensates! I would think twice at taking another run at this. I would rather not do it than do it (this) badly! There have been very few actors of Dutch origin who were able to carve out a decent career in the US / english language movies and they could actually act. I doubt this will be even remotely successful in the Netherlands let alone internationally!

Luckily the movie looks really cheap so they might make a euro when all is said and done. A sequel seems completely out of the question and who would want one? I do hope Rico wins his next match in the ring though, that's were he stands out!