Lesson Plan

No pun intended - not sure if this took one movie in particular and said that is the blueprint we want to use. But the movie itself is quite predictable .. it also seems to have no surprises when it comes to characters ... and developments if you want to call them that. But if you like action movies ... and don't care about story or plot a lot ... well you could do worse.

The movie is also easy and takes the easy (hard hitting, no pun intended) way most of the time. The ending is also quite convenient ... when it comes to positioning ... but if you have an issue with that falling down on you ... well you didn't really like anything that came before it either. It is a B-Movie action film from Poland ... there are far worse things out there ... there are far better things too ... overall it is a decent effort in my eyes.

I enjoyed this. The main character, Damian, is believable and sympathetic, plus we feel sorry for him because his wife was murdered by some really serious bad guys. The baddies in this film are suitably loathsome, the love interest is cute and we are encouraged to root for the good guys from the word go. The high school setting is convincing, the locations are dark and threatening and everything generally goes the way we want. Not cinematic history but a good thriller with a different setting from most. I can see where the comparisons with Reacher come from but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Watchable and satisfying, once you've had a drink or two.

Not only does the story move at a glacial pace, the action moves just as slow. Every move looks over-choreographed and lands so slowly it looks like it does no damage. Not only that but even when the main character's life is threatened, he rarely does any permanent damage to his opponents. He leaves random drunks with more bruises than those responsible for his friend's death. It completely breaks immersion.

Overall, the story itself isn't a bad one and the film could've been an entertaining if unmemorable action flick if some sort of action coach had been hired and a script editor hired to remove the cheesy, recycled lines from old kung-fu movies. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and it instead ended up disappointingly average.

Then it just became another 80's Karate Kid-type film we've all seen many times before - from the 80's and 90's. The fight scenes were too many and too boring, and the entire story had every cliche you can imagine. There were probably as many plot holes as there were fight scenes, and the entire story had nothing new to offer for this genre as it was entirely predictable. The romance scenes were cheesy and sappy as well. Plus it got tiresome glorifying the lead actor as some tough-guy - almost as if he wrote the story to make himself an action star, which was unconvincing from the start. The normally comfortable 101 min felt dragged out with all the cliched and predictable scenes, even though it had decent pacing. Perhaps in the hands of a better director and more convincing lead, I may have given it an extra point or two, but as was, not offering anything new to the genre, it's a very generous 6/10 from me - mostly because it was an international Polish and non-Hollywood film that was still watchable, one time.

This movie is the epitome of a cliche factory. School full of supervillains, teaching kids to stand up for themselves, women getting all hot and bothered cuz a guy defended their life, drugs are SUPER evil, fight scenes near electrical wires that will clearly end with the bad guy getting kicked into the wires...just, all of them.

BUT...who really cares? Saw reviewers giving this a 1 and 2, really? This is a clear cut sign someone has never truly seen a 1 or 2 star movie. Me? I managed to sit at least 50-60% through Insane Clown Posse's "Big Money Rustlas" (I don't even like ICP) and I watched all of "Money Plane", which is closer to a 1 or 2 star movie than this could ever hope to be. I'd still give it like, a 3 though.

What you are actually watching is the closest thing I've seen to a live action anime/comic book film set in Poland. I've watched very few Polish films/shows (so none of these actors are recognizable) and I'm awful with faces, but lucky for me, every single bad guy is distinctively designed from the rest of the cast...from primary bad guys to the randoms he fights, like the striped polo gang in the bar. Every issue can be solved with a fist fight, the main character just happens to show up at every location/scene they're needed at that time, and the bad guys only ever bring as much back-up as is completely necessary at the time, super convenient.

If you are looking for a movie that is going to make you think, make you ponder hard truths, and blah blah blah...this is not for you. PLENTY of those out there as every camera comes with a soapbox these days, but this is great for about 90ish (without credits) minutes of entertainment. I'd rate it a generous 7 but the action scenes lack impact...which, you'd think would be the only thing they'd definitely get right, but, alas.