Alarum

The first primary action scene the main character is surrounded by 20 generic henchmen. He hits one and steals an AR15 then proceeds to fire 200 rounds from one magazine. Hip firing and coming out on top of course.

CGI blood and bullet wounds are absurd and the lowest tier effects. This is a painful slog of bad acting and terrible writing. The mercenaries can't hit the broad side of a barn. A guy fleeing at 10 paces can run away and take them out in packs of 3, because the story calls for the absurdity.

I am truly stunned something like this gets made or even funded. How on Earth does this make its money back? Its absolutely dreadful. This is like an art school pipe dream production idea that actually came to life.

The armorer on the movie must be a teenager that has played too many video games. The weapons used are laughable. AA-12 shotguns and all kinds of outlandish rare expensive guns. They got out some of their toys for the movie and wanted to showcase many of their favorites.

Stallone phones this one in and collects a Bruce Willis paycheck for phoning one in. This is a complete bomb.

Despite having Scott Eastwood and Stallone, this film is ponderous. Eastwood hardly seems enthusiastic, and really doesn't give the impression of having once been a top agent. Stallone is beginning to creak, and he struggles physically with this action picture, which should have been much tighter.

Mike Colter deserves a shout out. His villain is cold, calculating and murderousy believable, but he is wasted in this calamity. The shootouts are just not believable, Eastwood seems to be missable at every opportunity and during his first gunfight, he has a machine gun that never needs reloading!

Willa Fitzgerald holds it together rather well, but isn't able to rescue this mess.

Alarum, a 2025 action crime thriller, unfortunately fell far short of my expectations. The most significant flaw lies in its weak script. The plot development lacks logic and coherence; the plot points are simplistic and poorly constructed. Many scenes feel jarring and abrupt, lacking necessary context and explanation. This makes it difficult to understand the characters' motivations and actions, ultimately hindering audience engagement.

Furthermore, I was surprised by Sylvester Stallone's limited screen time. Advertised as a key draw, his presence and contribution to the narrative were far less substantial than anticipated, diminishing a major potential highlight of the film. While Scott Eastwood delivered an acceptable performance, it couldn't compensate for the deficiencies in the script and overall plot.

While the action sequences were technically well-executed, the sluggish pace and lack of tension rendered them underwhelming. They failed to elevate the viewing experience. In summary, Alarum is a disappointing film. It squandered a talented cast and production resources, resulting in a mediocre, even poor, cinematic experience. I doubt even a director's cut could salvage this film. The special effects also disappointed, appearing rough and dated compared to current standards. The film lacked any memorable or impactful moments.

The ingredients are simple: lure some stars with synopsis to a project, but then put all of it in hands of bad writing, amateur direction, tons of nonsense and awful sfx, plot holes large as the local group of galaxies, drunk editing, absence of any coherence and attempts of acting (actually, what acting? True, some of the participants in this gave it a try but, alas, to no avail). Did you know that you can perform a large shootout (no one reloads even once) with a lot of explosions and noise in a relatively small town (they call it village), allegedly in Poland ("enemies" speak Russian, of course, and die like in John Wick, by dozens, being incompetent like kindergarten children), and no inhabitants even come to the window to see what happens? There's nobody anywhere near but "our heroes". The cherry on top of this mess is a strong hint on possible sequel, since this abruptly ends. God forbid! There are A movies, B movies, even C movies. At the bottom there are BS movies. This is a fine example. Two stars for skill of engaging Sly and Scott Eastwood. Were they blackmailed to participate? Nothing else could explain it. Run from this before it's too late.

OMG when I saw the 2 headline stars, I thought this should at least be watchable. I don't think i've seen a bad movie that either have been in. Jeez was I disappointed. Where do we begin? The terrible plot with more holes that you can shake a stick at, terrible script, story that made no sense and terrible acting. Literally felt like an amateur 1st time director effort. The only redeeming factor was the fit "Assassin" Willa Fitzgerald, she reminded me a bit of the assassin in the FAR superior Luc Besson produced titular character "Anna" (Excellent movie) The Jeeps in the movie are also quite cool. I guess that both Scott and Sylvester needed the cash but surely not so bad to ruin their reputations on? Hope they are not going down the Bruce Willis/Nic Cage road of cash grab low budget low quality movies.