ARSENAL

US, 2017, 97 minutes, Colour.
Adrian Grenier, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Johnathon Schaech, Lydia Hull, Abbie Gayle.
Directed by Steven C.Miller.

The plot of this action thriller is fairly familiar. However, the treatment is often very violent, some sequences particularly brutal, offputting for most audiences except for those who relish this kind of macho bashing, bloodletting… The director has been noted for much of this in previous thrillers including Bruce Willis vehicles, Marauders, First Kill, or the prison escape sequel, Escape Plan: Hades.

The film is a star vehicle for Adrian Grenier, best known for the television program and film of Entourage. He plays a successful businessman, dependent emotionally on his older brother who helped bring him up (though not without exploiting him in many ways). The older brother is played by Jonathon Schaech who has embarked early on a criminal career and is a drug user and pusher.

The film is billed as a Nicolas Cage film and has an over-the-top performance which is both absurd and more than the usual Cage screen presence. Over the years, he has been noted for the strange array of wigs that he has worn, not always apt, not always well-fitting. They are even worse this time!

The younger brother has a successful business, has a wife and child, all seems to be going well. Then, Cage as a drug criminal, concocts a plan, with the consent of the older brother, that the brother be abducted and held to ransom, the younger brother liquidating all his assets – which, he does, because of his devotion to his brother.

Also in the picture, briefly, is a plainclothes detective, friend of the brothers and giving advice and making connections to discover the truth. He is played by John Cusack.

Also in the scene are a range of thugs, bodyguards for Cage, and appearance of Cages older brother with whom he has clashed in the past and his brutal in final fights.

While the plot outline, as has been said, is familiar enough, it goes beyond the ordinary audience with some brutal bashing sequences, often filmed in slow motion, battered faces, blood spurting… Which, again as has been said, will be too much for ordinary audiences.