THE ENFORCER

US, 2022, 90 minutes, Colour.

Antonio Banderas, Mojean Aria, Kate Bosworth, Alexis Wren, Zolly Griggs.

Directed by Richard Hughes.

A small budget 90 minute action thriller, the type of film that used to be referred to as “straight to video”. Films like this find a wider audience on mainstream streaming services. Its intended audience is that of fans for kickboxing and other multi--martial arts fighting, of which there are quite a number of sequences. Its intended audiences are fans of gangster films, the seedy underworld of cities like Miami, gangster clashes, shootouts. And this is what the film is mainly about.

A rather tired -looking Antonio Banderas is an ageing enforcer in Miami, employed by a crime boss, unexpectedly played by Kate Bosworth. The enforcer has no hesitation in threatening people, brutal confrontations, shooting people dead. And there is a supporting cast of gangsters, seedy characters, seedy clubs, some human trafficking…

The other central character is played by Mojean Aria, the young gangster in the making, very tough in streetfighting, even when he is down, who catches the eye of the enforcer who takes him on as an assistant, something of a mentor. However, the plot is complicated and a touch more humanised by the enforcer’s encountering a teenager who is being exploited, tries to help her, finding that she has been abducted by the traffickers, discovers her again in the club managed by his boss. In the meantime, the young man has been attracted to one of the girls working in the club, beginning a romance.

Ultimately, of course, some violent confrontations, some deaths, the enforcer himself being wounded but able to rescue the young woman – and the young man then venturing onto his own career. As an enforcer? Or has he learned some moral lessons?

The film was directed by an Australian, Richard Hughes and the central character of the young man is played by Australian Mojean Aria.

One of many, many such action films.