Renegados

I only watched this movie to see what became of Lee Majors, that I used to watch when I was a kid, in The Fall Guy and The Six Million Dollar Man, two immensely popular series when I was young. I wondered what character he would play as an 83 years old actor. Not a very plausable one to be honest, a retired veteran that still thinks he can kick some a##. Like his old colleagues in this movie they're going on a revenge expedition, it's more laughable than anything else. Danny Trejo and Lee Majors have very small roles, their names were just been used to fill the movie poster and attract people to watch this mediocre movie. The acting is far below average, almost painful to watch. The producer or whoever does the casting must have a weak spot for women that had plastic surgeries as almost every actress in Renegades looked like an abomination. Unbelievable what women (and some men) are capable to do to look younger. A mission that 90% of the time is doomed to fail. There are so many examples now of failed procedures that you would think plastic surgery is a dying business but people continue to have body transformations in the hope of having that everlasting young look and instead they look atrocious. In Renegades there are plenty examples of surgeries gone wrong. Those actresses are now doomed to play in these kind of movies, b-movies or in this case z-movies as it's that bad. The producer was probably looking for cheap actresses as I can't see any of those actresses playing in a decent movie in the future, so the only roles they will get are in very low quality movies like this one.

Some of the casting choices in this movie are ridiculous. A mid seventies Stephanie Beecham playing an active senior police officer, and the actor playing the female detective pumped so full of fillers that she can't even deliver her lines clearly. She might actually be half decent if she could speak clearly and looked like she could be a police officer.

I didn't mind the low budget feel, I enjoyed We Still Kill The Old Way and this is in the same vein with similar older British stars, plush the bonus of Danny Trejo.

It's an ok film to pass 90 mins but it does make some terrible casting choices.

This film came as close to me giving a film 1/10 as I've ever been, it's truly appalling. The writing is truly terrible and people who produce this standard of story content have no business writing anything. They clearly are just not ready or talented enough to produce anything for public consumption.

I would be hard pressed to let friends or family litmus test anything this bad, and I'm not saying this to be cute. The writing is simply atrocious, and but for the standards that have slithered below sea level in the past few years as independant films become more easily and cheaply produced, this film would never have been made.

However! Even the writing bad as it is cannot compete with the direction which defines a new level in incompetence and ineptitude. It's actually quite something that direction can be so misguided that it can even make reasonably competent actors look like they're performing in their first grade school play.

There is little point in going into detail on any other aspect of the film since the fundamentals are so underwhelming, but suffice to say, this films stinks.

I know people tend to say flippant things like 'worst film I've ever watched' etc, with movies they dislike and I can for once understand the sentiment. Truthfully, I've seen many worse films, but this IS the worst film I've seen in 2022 which is some accolade.

I love London gangster revenge movies so I was looking forward to this one as it has some stellar cast members. Unfortunately it also has some bad actors and some poor writing. One of the worst cast members is married to the writer. Go figure.

Ian Ogilvy is, as always, a delight. The underrated Paul Barber is superb and Billy Murray does what he does best. So nice to see Lee Majors on screen again. However, Stephanie Beacham is far too old to be playing a serving senior police officer and looks as if she is on life support. Sothcott is hopelessly miscast as a Detective Inspector. She can't act and looks like a victim of a botched Botox procedure. And it's all a bit confused. She carries a gun but clearly nobody showed her how to use it and why would a DI in London be carrying a gun on a routine enquiry anyway.

The writing is clichéd and some of the dialogue is pathetic. I felt sorry for the actors who had to deliver it but hopefully they all had a nice pay day.

And that leaves Patsy Kensit. She has a strange role that tries to pull it all together and give the story meaning but she doesn't pull it off. The blurb say 4 old SAS soldiers get together but the lead goodies clearly says he was in the Royal Anglian and wears their beret. Such inaccuracy in the trailer info says it all.

Very disappointed.

Right, well I have to say that I wasn't really expecting a whole lot from the 2022 action crime thriller "Renegades" as I sat down to watch it. But I figured that with the rather interesting cast ensemble that was in the movie, then there might actually be a chance that this could turn out as a good movie.

And I have to say that writers Tom Jolliffe and Jonathan Sothcott definitely were on to something here with the script that they had put together for director Daniel Zirilli to bring to the screen. But it was just a shame that director Daniel Zirilli botched the opportunity that was readily served at his disposal.

The storyline had some good aspects to it, but the movie felt clumsy and sluggish. It was partly an insanely wooden, rigid and awkward dialogue that was shunting the movie's momentum. Well, that and also the fact that the action sequences didn't really feel particularly dynamic and fluid.

I was especially taken aback with the delivery of the dialogue and the general lack of enthusiasm, commitment and commitment from the cast in general. It just took away so much from the movie. It was as if the actors themselves didn't buy into the subpar script they had to work with.

"Renegades" definitely had a great cast ensemble, with the likes of Lee Majors, Michael Paré, Louis Mandylor, Nick Moran, Tom Lister Jr., Ian Ogilvy and Danny Trejo on the cast list. Of all these talents, it felt like only Lee Majors and Louis Mandylor were actively putting in an effort into their characters and trying to make something of the movie. Personally I don't understand why they opt to put the surgically altered and silicone enhanced performers in movies, and there was one such individual in this movie here, and the alterations done to her face just ruined every scene that she was in, because it was so difficult to take her serious as an officer of the police force.

The action sequences in the movie weren't particularly exciting. And an action crime thriller should be packed with thrilling and adrenaline-packed action sequences. Sadly such things were not present in "Renegades". Sure, there were some action sequences, but they were pretty much ruined by some dubious special effects for the shots from weapon, explosions and such.

For an action crime thriller then "Renegades" was a flaccid addition to the genre. The movie brought nothing new to the genre, nor was it particularly outstanding or thrilling. So it was a rather bland and mediocre viewing experience to sit through. I did manage to sit through the entire movie, but believe you me when I say that I am never returning to watch "Renegades" a second time.

My rating of director Daniel Zirilli's 2022 action crime thriller "Renegades" lands on a three out of ten stars.