Year Released: 2020
Directed by: Sam Hargrave
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Golshifteh Farashani
(R, 116 mn.)
Genre: Action and Adventure, Drama, Mystery and Suspense

“All the greatest stories have been told. It’s how they’re retold that counts.” –Different Drummer (Kathy Borich)

If you need to erase that horrible image of Fat Thor from your Avenger’s Endgame addled brain, this film is the perfect antidote. It also cures us of any ennui following all those recent stay-at-home orders.

A hardened mercenary’s mission becomes a soul-searching race to survive when he’s sent into Bangladesh to rescue a drug lord’s kidnapped son. Directed by Sam Hargrave, this action-packed, edge-of-your-seat thriller is produced by Joe and Anthony Russo, the visionary directors of Avengers: Endgame.

Now don’t go looking for a super original or nuanced plot here. In fact, one critic reminds us that the plot is almost identical to Denzel Washington’s 2004 Man on Fire. Here I have to become a little like NCIS’s Gibbs and refer to Different Drummer’s Rule Number 10.

“All the greatest stories have been told. It’s how they’re retold that counts.”

This is an action film, a directorial debut for Sam Hargrave, a stuntman who made it to the director’s chair, that elite group that “… can be counted on the broken fingers of one bandaged hand.” –Ryan Gilbey

Hargrave has a lot of respect for his lead Hemsworth, too, having worked with the Australian actor way back in the early Avenger’s films.

“He’s a Muay Thai practitioner and he beat the crap out of me because he’s such a big, strong dude.” Hargrave also adds, “No matter how much dirt or blood you put on Chris Hemsworth, there’s no getting around it: he is devilishly handsome.”

Except, of course, when they want him fat and lazy:

With the muscled and chiseled Hemsworth back, the action sequences are excellent, even better, according to some, than John Wick’s stylishly seductive, slickly choreographed killing sprees on screen.

But here we have some rationale for the killing. And that is saving a young boy. Yes, that boy is a drug lord’s son, but the boy himself (Rudhraksh Jaiswal’s Ovi) is quite sweet and innocent, if that can be said of one in his circumstance. The film begins by showing how shy Ovi is with girls, even as his friends tease him to get the courage up to talk to one who may like him.

Rudhraksh Jaiswal puts in a very powerful performance here, and he and Hemsworth have great on screen chemistry. The dialogue between Ovi and Hemsworth’s Tyler Rake is excellent, reminding us of the rapport between Indiana Jones and his eleven year old sidekick Short Round in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

And that dialogue is a kind of shorthand for the redemption of the burned out black market mercenary.

Ovi Mahajan: Are you going to leave me in the street?
Tyler Rake: The only chance of getting my money is you, mate. So, no.
Ovi Mahajan: I’m like a package then.
Tyler Rake: Yeah, pretty much.
Ovi Mahajan: In brown paper.

Tyler Rake: What are you doing?
Ovi Mahajan: This? Piano. I play the piano when I’m nervous. It helps. My father hates it when I do it. He thinks of me the same way you do. More like a thing than a person.

Tyler Rake: What were you going to ask me?
Ovi Mahajan: If you were always this way? You know, brave.
Tyler Rake: I’m not brave, mate.
Ovi Mahajan: Of course you are. You rescue people
Tyler Rake: Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes I do other things.

Ovi even offers some sage advice when things get especially dodgy and Rake begins to wallow in his past guilt:

“You drown not by falling into the river, but by staying submerged in it.”

But the small talk is only minimal. Most of it is crisp dialogue during the great action sequences while the two are on the run.

***

The jewel in the crown of all the masterfully orchestrated mayhem as Hemsworth and his quarry charge through the streets is a truly jaw-dropping, breath-taking, brilliantly conceived set piece that combines fire fights, fist fights, car chases, foot chases and even falls from buildings into a continous sequence that goes for about 12 minutes.

Known as a “oner”, the set-piece comprises several separately filmed action scenes that are seamlessly blended together to create the illusion that the camera captured the whole thing in one take.–Jim Schembri

Another aspect of the fine production values is the soundtrack composed by Henry Jackman, who also did Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War and many others. You get a hint of its pulsing rhythms in the trailer.

Not to mention the street scenes in Bangladesh, a wash of chaos and color – smoky ochre, muted gray, blood red, and fiery orange.

Not to miss for action fans. Hemsworth at his best.

–Kathy Borich
🥁🥁🥁🥁

Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

Most of this film in nonstop action, a given seeing as it was directed by a veteran stuntman himself. And the mayhem is magnificent. It only slows down a few times. One of those is when Chris Hemsworth takes refuge in the house of a fellow mercenary in Bangladesh, who even shares his wife’s homemade food with them.

Since the film does not tell us too much about what that food is, Different Drummer has had to be creative, choosing a dish more appetizing to Western audiences than the more traditional Prawn and Fish Curry, or Mustard Fish prominently featured on Bangladesh recipe sites.

It is called Gulab Jamun, Kala Jam, or even better yet, Waffle Balls. Just the thing now that so many of you have time on your hands. You might even have your stay-at-home aspiring cooks assist you in making these treasures.

You can easily substitute equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg for the cardamom and vanilla extract for the rose water.

Bangldesh Waffle Balls (Kala Jam)

"These are like little waffle balls that sit in and absorb a sugary rosewater syrup. Serve hot or cold." –Kristin Rhea Hembrode

Ingredients

2 cups water

2 cups white sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 drops rose water (optional)

1 pinch saffron (optional)

1/2 cup instant dry milk powder (such as Carnation)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (such as Land O'Lakes)

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

2 cups vegetable oil for frying

Directions

Combine water, sugar, cardamom, rose water, and saffron in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until consistency is syrupy, 5 to 10 minutes.
Mix milk powder, flour, and baking soda in a bowl until well-combined. Slowly mix in butter and yogurt until dough comes together. Let gulab dough rest for 5 minutes. Shape into smooth balls the size of pennies.
Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Test the temperature of the oil by dropping in a small piece of dough. When it sits at the bottom of the pan for 1 minute before coming to the surface, the oil is ready.
Fry 4 gulab balls at a time, stirring carefully, until dark golden brown on all sides, about 2 minutes. Drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Repeat with remaining gulab.
Bring syrup back up to a boil and drop in fried gulab. Remove from heat and let them soak in the syrup, covered, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

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