Riot’s Movie Review: Boss Level
Looking to take a break from some of the more intense movies I have been covering recently, I took a chance on a new film that popped up on Hulu, Boss Level. Starring Frank Grillo, an actor that I would say I am a fan of simply judged by his performance in one of my favorite movies of all time, Warrior, I expected to turn off my brain and enjoy some good ol’ fashioned Hollywood violence. Boss Level delivered much of what I expected and then some, but with it came a much deeper subplot that I didn’t foresee at all. With some solid direction from Joe Carnahan, an intriguing premise built on the time-loop story format, and a tip-of-the-hat tribute to videogame culture, Boss Level dishes out a fast-paced action thriller that actively chooses not to ignore a compelling character development narrative.
Opening on a slowly ticking watch (of course) the audience is introduced to a sleeping Roy Pulver (Grillo) as he is awakened not only by a screaming woman next to him, but also a machete-wielding assassin. Roy’s voice provides the initial voice-over narration for the story, efficiently and comedically catching the audience up on the nightmare of a situation he currently finds himself in. You see, Roy is repeating the same day over and over and in the process is subsequently murdered each time by a slew of random characters/assassins. He has done this so many times that he is able to predict the moves of his want-to-be murderers before they can even make them. He doesn’t know why it’s happening but as the story progresses, when he is able to finally overcome the depressing deterministic nihilism that consumes him, Roy begins to piece together the events that led to his being trapped in this time loop. In doing so, Roy is able to push the limits of how long he is able to stay alive, thereby extending his chances of breaking past the “levels” he is trapped in. Not wishing to give away any spoilers here, a series of flashbacks and revelations lets Roy know that the secret has something to do with his estranged wife and a project she was working on called the “Osiris spindle.” As he continues to push farther into the day, Roy becomes more and more adept at not only defeating the malevolent forces that are pressed against him, but he begins to unravel the personality deficits that perpetuated his misery before the time loop began.
As stated before, I felt like I knew what I was in for with this movie, especially after watching the preview. As far as time loop movies go, I’ve seen this all before (ex: Edge of Tomorrow, or even more recently Palm Springs, the latter of which I highly recommend). Being a bit of video game connoisseur, I was intrigued at how this film was going to fit this into the narrative. Admittedly, the gaming references weren’t as extensive as I had expected, mostly coming from the graphics that displayed whatever “attempt” Roy was on, or even the outright presence of actual video games when Roy and his son commonly visit an underground gaming business. Although, his repetitive struggles with a particular assassination with a catch phrase named Guan Yin was an effective and hilarious allusion to the frustration of not being able to pass a boss in a game. As far as videogame, nerd-culture films go, I would still say that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World retains the title best portrayal, but Boss Level definitely caught me off guard by how clever it was about it.
The positives of the film greatly outweigh its negatives. The violence, while incredibly graphic at times, had such humorous overtones to it that it took the edge off its brutality. The brevity of the situation is made much more fun by cleverly written one-liners and the special effects enforce the comedic aspects all around. Grillo’s performance as an action superstar was superb. Since he has been quoted as liking to do a lot of his own stunts, specially the hand-to-hand fighting, it is almost unbelievable that a 55 year old man could be that fit and that mobile. Grillo not only flexes his actual muscles for the entirety of the film, but he also puts on unexpected depth in his more intimate scenes, especially when spending time with his son (who I was surprised to find out in my research is Grillo’s actual son Rio). Like stated before, the character development is something to be aspired to. That the writers and director had the wherewithal to create that depth and fit it naturally into the story is a testament to their work. I’m hard pressed to think of another action film that provided a much deeper lesson within its framework.
The downsides of the film were hard to find and are more nit-picky than anything else. There is a small continuity error in the middle of the film where Roy’s presence is shown to affect the television screens in the underground gaming business. Later on, when he spends entire days with his son at the same location, his presence no longer affects the screens. CGI is used for many explosions in the film, which I have to imagine helps tremendously to cut the cost of practical explosions. They are convincing to be sure, but you can definitely spot them when they happen. I’ll preface this next bit by saying I didn’t hate any of the performances in this film, but many of the famous faces end up feeling more like cameos than anything else. Ken Jeong’s presence feels unnecessary and ends up being inconsequential. This similarly applies to the “final boss” Colonel Clive Ventor (Mel Gibson). His portrayal feels a little over the top and forced at times, but when you keep it in the context of a character that is supposed to be following the overt videogame bad guy archetype, it’s easier to look past it. Plus, it was great to see him still throw blows (however brief) at his age. The final continuity issue I’ll touch on is the idea that Roy’s character could become so proficient at adapting to his surroundings in such a short amount of time. At “attempt” numbers only in the 70’s, Roy is shown walking through hails of bullets and attacks, predicting what is going to happen because he has done it so many times before. It’s a bit of a stretch to me, no matter how skilled he was before the time loop irregularity.
Riot’s Rating: 9/10: The violence and language throughout should discourage any younger people from watching, but I would absolutely recommend this movie to my friends and family. Between it’s thrilling action, quick wit, fantastic performances, and touching subplot, it’s hard to go wrong with Boss Level.
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