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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Hemsworth effect or the Hemsworth trifecta, or maybe the Hemsworth trinity. I’m still working on the name for this but there is a new phenomenon in action cinema where we not just have one Hemsworth delivering hard hitting action, but we now have three. We all know Chris as he’s the most famous of the three siblings as he is Thor in the MCU as well as Tyler Rake in the Extraction franchise. Plus, he’s been doing it longer and has achieved the most success but his two brothers are nipping on his heels when it comes to adrenaline cinema and this year alone, we have seen Liam Hemsworth star in one of the best action films of the year in Land of Bad which also featured Luke Hemsworth in a smaller role but now the latter is front and center in his own starring vehicle titled fittingly enough, Gunner. Seriously though, I think all three brothers starring in an action movie world be cinematic gold.
The movie has its flaws including questionable music choices during the film’s numerous action sequences as well as questionable CGI effects including muzzle flashes, blood sprays and explosions including some very laughable parachuting sequences and several tried and true action film tropes but with all that said, Gunner is still an above average, old-school style black ops pic that has Hemsworth, Luke that is, deploying a new action hero in former Green Beret turned private sector operative Lee Gunner. You just gotta love when the hero’s last name is the title of the movie because that right there tells you that he has the kick ass name to go with all the skill sets and bravado.
Things are not great for Lee as his time in the service has basically killed his marriage and has made an estranged son out of his teenage son. there’s also the fact that his oldest son dies as a direct effect of serving in the military and the Afghanistan War. Lee also was missing for almost a year after a mission where he single handedly saved an entire fire team left him a prisoner where he was tortured. he escaped of course but the scars are still there, physically and emotionally. With all that, Lee looks to connect with his two loving children while remaining civil with his former wife.
Things go to hell, literally, when a simple camping trip with the boys and his brother-in-law Jon turns into a massive survival quest when they just happen to stumble upon a major drug operation in the backwoods run by Dobbs Ryker, who is played by Undisputed 3: Redemption’s Mykel Shannon Jenkins. Dobbs isn’t the main boss as that job lies with his father Kendrick Ryker, played by the Hollywood icon himself Morgan Freeman, unfortunately a bad turn of events have landed daddy in prison leaving the son to handle the family business in his absence.
When Lee, Jon and the boys trigger off an explosion, the blast kills Jon and forces Lee to bust into one man army beast mode to save his sons and take down Dobbs and the Asian biker gang that is employed by the Ryker family. Oh, Dobbs also kidnaps Lee’s sons so that leads to some difficult choices and heroics. No worries though as Gunner is an elite spec ops warrior who just happened to win the Medal of Honor for saving the team in the Middle East. Endless gunfights, fisticuffs and practical stunt work ensue as Gunner does what he does best for the last two/thirds of the movie.
Directing all this throwback style chaos in Dimitri Logothetis who is best known for helming the Kickboxer reboot franchise with Alain Moussi and Jean-Claude Van Damme as well as the sci-fi pic Jiu-Jitsu also starring Moussi. Logothetis knows what action audiences want and with Gunner he is able to deliver a product with some sheen and luster to it even though the limited budget does show its ugly head when it comes to some shoddy effects. What this movie lacks in effects, it more than makes up for with some brutal, gritty, stripped-down action design and an endless barrage of bravado and ass kicking.
This being Luke’s first major starring role in an action movie, he is more than up to the task and all through the flick, I couldn’t help but feel that he talks and moves exactly like Thomas Jane who is another action cinema pro. I hear Jane in his voice and see Jane with his mannerisms and that is probably the highest compliment I can give Luke as Jane has always been one of my favorites. Luke looks the part, is believable in the battle sequences and gets amply opportunity to show off some rather sweet CQB action. I’m not gonna lie as I would love to see Luke play Gunner in more movies in the future as he has commanding presence and action chops.
What can you say about Morgan Freeman. Having him in this film even if it’s somewhat limited is a major grand slam and Freeman is one of those Hollywood icons that can elevate even the worse movie that they’re in. Thankfully Gunner isn’t bad so Freeman being in it just makes it even better. It also helps that Freeman’s Kendrick and Hemsworth’s Gunner have an interesting dynamic in the last third of the movie and their scenes together are standout.
Undisputed 3’s Mykel Shannon Jenkins is the real bad guy here and he, like Freeman, executes a rousing presence as Dobbs who is more than meets the eye. Sure, he’s a drug dealing scumbag, but he really doesn’t want to hurt the kids. After all, just like he says in the movie, he’s not a monster. More times than not, the villain isn’t worthy of the hero but here. Dobbs is a formidable adversary for Gunner and the two have a decent scrap match on a chopper in the finale.
Now it’s the action we all come to see and I’m very ecstatic to say that Gunner delivers on all fronts with three major sequences that utilize everything you could want from an action movie. You get bloody firefights (even if it is CGI) some pretty cool tracer fire during the bullet infested exchanges and some martial arts choreography peppered in seeing as the biker gang is Asian so they have to know empty handed combat because that’s the law. Hemsworth is worthy of past action heroes like Stallone and Schwarzenegger, and I see him as a next generation Kurt Russell if all goes well with his future flicks. Hemsworth executes the design well that is asked of him and makes it look bad ass and, in your face, and the middle sequence is probably the best as he gets to do a little of everything. There is some innovative choreography and there is a lot of carnage to be had throughout that should please action fans looking to scratch that itch. There’s just something about a one-man killing machine in my action movies that makes me grin and here, I was grinning a lot.
Hemsworth even gets a sequence where he breaks into a prison just like his brother Chris in Extraction 2. This scene doesn’t have the bombastic feel to it or the longevity with insane action, but it still is a serviceable effort.
Like I mentioned earlier, there are questionable music choices used throughout Gunner, and it did take me out of the action a little bit. It’s unfortunate as there is a solid cinematic style action score in there but Logothetis chooses to use out of place 70’s sounding music as well as blues songs and even hardcore hip hop. Why they feel that this is better is beyond me but thankfully the finale is devoid of all that and we do get the score. The first altercation between Gunner and some lethal ladies would have stood out more if it wasn’t for the wonky 70’s music bend. It made me cringe.
Plotwise, Gunner offers nothing new and issues those familiar tropes that we all know and love like kidnapping said children, a hero with a damaged past and cartoonish bad guys that are just there to get annihilated by the star. To all this, I say who cares. When you see the trailer for Gunner, you know exactly what you’re going to get and I wanted to see shit blow up, assailants get mowed down and our hero prove that he doesn’t need a weapon to take out anybody because he is a weapon and that’s exactly what I got.
Overall, Gunner has its massive flaws and while some may not forgive the film for it, I was on board from the start and Luke Hemsworth is a solid choice for another actor who could be a major action star. After all, this movie is exactly like all the other 90’s DTV trashy art that I gobbled up back in the day and couldn’t get enough of. There’s plenty of boom and bang with some bone jarring fight action thrown in and I think this film will serve well on a Saturday night. Hemsworth does the family name proud, and Morgan Freeman is, well, Morgan Freeman. The tropes are all there and they serve the film just fine and Logothetis empties everything and the kitchen sink for fans to enjoy. With this movie, Luke comes out of the shadows from the other two siblings and proves that he has the mettle to star in flicks that serve up the hyper-kinetic flair and adrenaline sauce. I’m hoping we see more of Gunner in the future, and I would bank on seeing Luke Hemsworth headlining more action films. He gets to go tactical and ballistic and deserves to jock up in future action pics.
VERDICT: 3 Out of 5 Stars
Luke Hemsworth does his action family proud and deploys all the right amount of bravado and butt kicking in the enjoyable Gunner!
