LEGACY OF LIES

UK/US, 2020, 101 minutes, Colour.

Scott Adkins, Anna Butkevich, Yuliia Sobol, Honor Kneafsey, Martin Mc Dougall.

Directed by Adrian Bol.

Legacy of Lies is one of those action thrillers, reminiscent of the later films of Jean Claude van Damme or Steven Segal. They are for the undiscriminating action audience. And, like this film, they often receive terrible reviews.

Leading man, Scott Adkins, has something of a following with his action films. In this one, he fails in  a mission in Ukraine, leading to the death of his wife, losing important documents. He has retired from government work, serves as a bouncer in a club, does cage fighting. He also has a daughter – and lots of scenes between father and daughter. She is played by Honor Kneafsey, aged about 12.

His past comes back to haunt him. The daughter of a friend in the Ukraine comes to engage his help. The CIA is interested. Russian intelligence is also involved. This leads to a lot of action, chases, fights, danger to the little girl (who seems remarkably resilient, even to the end and her dive into the water) apparitions of his wife,. As said, this is for the undemanding action audience.