This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
"I've seen worse."
Plot Overview
Thai shipping mogul Tibu Campallo
(Ramon Tikaram) is transferring ownership of
his business to his son Kameron Campallo (Chaneil Kular) to enable
him to pursue his own dreams. His dreams include turning a blind
eye to criminal shipments not knowing how far they'd gone. The
head of Tibu's personal protection detail is decorated
ex-military/ex-cop Cole Reed (Jason Statham) who after five years
of service has become like a son to him. It's in the economic
interest of gangster Simon Kluth (Jaran Daniles) to speed the
transition along by assassinating the father & his
bodyguard. Cole survives the attempt and impersonates one of the
hit-men to infiltrate the container ship on which he was booked, to
track down the source.
Cole
discovers on-board a container of trafficked refugees needing food,
water, and medical attention. That was his military specialty so it
becomes personal. Temporary third mate Angie Ellis (Annabelle
Wallis) being a single mom—thanks to a deadbeat
dad—joins Cole in sympathy for the victims and crusade
against their captors. They are motivated by vengeance à la
author Howard Owen:
Some might say it ain't right to punish like that, but I just think ... Sometimes God's judgment is right harsh, but it is God's judgment, and somebody has got to be His instrument. (149)
Ideology
The heavy
homicidal action lends itself to comparison with one of Kenny
Rogers's songs concerning a chance encounter with “The
Gambler” on a train bound for nowhere. He offered his fellow
passenger the advice that “the secret to surviving is knowing
what to throw away and knowing what to keep.” The refrain of
the song goes:
You've got to know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
This wisdom of the gambling man's repertoire is old as the hills and was passed on by a raconteur, Agur in Proverbs 30:1, whose four metaphors offered the same life advice as did Rogers's Gambler. That we find in, (Prov. 30:29-31) “There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going: A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any; A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.”
We have Agur's “lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any,” and we have Rogers's “know[ing] when to hold 'em.” In our movie Cole confronts mano a mano Captain Marko Madsen (Roland Möller) a seasoned street fighter who is no pushover, but it must be done.
We have Agur's “king, against whom there is no rising up,” and we have Rogers's “Know[ing] when to fold 'em.” A king who knows when to give in to his subjects doesn't experience any uprising. When the Navy arrives in force to find the only ones standing are Cole, the third mate, and assorted human traffic, Cole meekly submits to their armed interrogation.
We have Agur's
“he goat also” and we have Rogers's “Know[ing]
when to walk away.” When Cole is isolated in a locked compartment, he
escapes through the anchor port to climb the outside of the
ship like a billy goat to finish the fight.
We have Agur's “greyhound” and Rogers's “Know[ing] when to run.” As the Bangkok police are in on the frame-up, Cole's best option is to beat a hasty retreat in the pirate ship once the Navy loses interest in him.
The gambler gave the advice:
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
There's a final end to tie up on shore before the show is over.
Production Values
“” (2026) was directed by Jean-François Richet. It was written by Lindsay Michel and J.P. Davis. It stars Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis and Roland Möller. Statham was a nautical Rambo, Wallis a fish out of water, and Möller the last guy you'd ever want to meet in a dark alley. The head pirate was tall & bearded and had a memorable line that he delivered stiffly; needs more acting practice at speaking parts.
The third mate played critical roles
in storming the castle: she provided comfort for the refugees,
cover for the bodyguard left holding the bag, and competence
in alerting the US Navy
with a distress call or two. Statham was everything one could
wish for in an action figure fitting this rudimentary plot. The
integrated Navy was professional and on the ball, enough to spur
enlistment of those watching the movie.
MPA rated it R for strong/bloody violence, and language. The setup is brief, the action drawn out. Okay. Runtime is 1 hour 35 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This one is for action aficionados period. It moves between high finance and high seas. In the words of the bodyguard examining the third mate's wound, “I've seen worse.”
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three and a half stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Lions den picture is copyright © Sweet Publishing. Licensed by
FreeBibleimages.
This image is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Owen, Howard. Fat Lightning. Copyright © 1994 by Howard Owen. Sag Harbor, New York: The Permanent Press, First Edition: August, 1994 — 4000 copies. Print.
Rogers, Kenny. Songwriter Don Schlitz. “The Gambler.” Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Pub. LLC. Web.
bibles.n7nz.org