chand-suhas

Alpha one team are running a covert US operation while taking over a local house in Ramadi. The team us monitoring the activities across the street with their snipers and are in constantly touch with the air support. In a turn of events, they get ambushed which injures their own and they are forced to call for a CASEVAC. With the street firefight increase, how do the team survive till the rescue team arrives, forms rest of the story as the film documents the events of their survival.

I am not much into army movies and this one too documents an event alone. The very fact that they took over a local house with a civilian family inside, didn't let me fully connect to these characters and ofcourse not much information is provided apart from them being from US army. But to give film it's due, the tense situation is well captured, keeping the atmosphere raw and gritty throughout. It's a survival story and the focus is on the evacuation than the battle with the terror outfit. Overall, it was an okay one time watch for the way they pulled it off but I couldn't connect with any of these characters and their predicament.

Detective Frank Shaw is losing his ability to hear after an accident left him with an injury. He is trying to cope up with his predicament while trying to evade his daughter during the process. His partner Doug brings him on a case, in order to take the witness statement. The witness is a deaf woman Ava, who is living an near empty apartment and is about to get evicted like the rest of the residents. She is a witness to a murder and soon a crew drops by to eliminate her. Frank having left his phone at her apartment, goes back enough to save her. Now the duo are stuck in a apartment covered by the crew, who happens to be dirty cops. This forces them to a cat and mouse thriller for survival.

Dan Hall's story is quite predictable as it is quite evident who the main bad guy is early on and the reveal itself in the final act has no impact. Having said that, this routine survival cop thriller almost ticks off all the expected points to keep the film entertaining. First is the good performances by all the actors who carry the film till the end and the use of the main leads disability to their advantage was well executed. However, even with the short runtime, the film does drag a little as the reveal of the main bad guy takes a lot of time with the predictable screenplay doing little to elevate the script. For an Action film, it doesn't rely on too much over the top action blocks and the elevator one comes too late as well as not too stretched. The simple resolution may not go down well with all the viewers but the attempt to keep the proceedings real, clubbed with good performances make this thriller a decent one time watch at best.

Short Take -

Ray King is shot dead while meeting a mysterious assassin. Marybeth Medina who is now the director of FinCEN, reaches out to Justine to seek the help of the accountant. Together they figure out the last case Ray was working on. Further, Wolff gets Braxton on board to help find the main guy behind Ray's death amidst Medina's opposition towards their way of working. What was the case Ray was last working on? How is the mysterious assassin connected to the case? Will the accountant and his brother close this personal case, forms rest of the story.

The follow up story provided the much needed brothers bonding and that remained the main plus. The dynamic of this duo and Medina could have lasted a bit longer than it did. The main complaint I have is the entire acquired Savant Syndrome which gets mentioned early on, creating a solid intrigue but the film doesn't explore it further. I understand that the sequel is basically about the accountant and his brother with Medina also giving way for them to have the big action block. I just wished the mysterious assassin was involved in it too. The introduction of Justine and her team is something I got on board with quickly. Overall, the sequel does have a slower pace, nevertheless still ends up as a watchable film.