KILL CHAIN

US, 2019, 91 minutes, Colour.

Nicolas Cage, Anabelle Acosta, Enrico Colantoni, Ryan Kwanten, Angie Cepeda, Eddie Martinez.

Directed by Ken Sanzel.

Kill Chain is one of the many action films that Nicolas Cage made during the 2010 is and continued into the 2020s, with some satire and homage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Of Talent.

The setting is Mexico, a seedy -looking hotel, owned by Nicholas Cage who gives an explanation of how he came to be there – twice, once at the beginning of the film, setting the scene, and once when the chain narrative comes round to a climax. He has an explanation of working with his partner as mercenary, a complicated life of violence.

There is another narrative which seems to be unconnected but which the audience have to work on. It involves Ryan Quantum as a corrupt policeman, an attack on drug dealers and the setting up of further deals.

There is also a femme fatale, seen initially during the hotel explanation scene, later explanation of who she is, what has happened to her, pursuit, taking refuge with Cage?

There is also a flashback story to a little girl who is taken, who grows up, and he decides to move out of the hotel and take up with criminals.

Standard material one might say but presented in a very complex, perhaps better put, complicated way, that many of the action fans will find difficult to put together – and so will other audiences.