A Review of ‘Revenge of the Gweilo’: An action flick that doesn’t quite hit the mark
A former policeman goes after a powerful organisation responsible for his significant other’s death.
‘Revenge of the Gweilo’: An action flick that doesn’t quite hit the mark
Cast: Nathan Hill, Mary Annegeline, Tritia DeViSha, Joanne Nguyen, Andy McPhee, James Liotta, Hwee Hall, Robert Rafik Awad, Robert Mason, Cory Corbett, Janice Fung, Elmira Jurik, Tien Herschel
Critic’s Rating: 2.5 Stars out of 5
Director: Nathan Hill
Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Genre: Action
Language: English
Release: 2020
What’s it about?
A former policeman goes after a powerful organisation responsible for his significant other’s death.
Review:
If you are keen on a campy, Cantonese-cinema inspired yarn of vengeance and gore, then Revenge of the Gweilo might be just the movie for you. But if you’re looking for logic and powerful human conflict, there is not much you can glean from this mediocre offering by producer-writer-director-actor Nathan Hill. The movie’s premise: one bereaved man’s quest to take on and take down a whole crime syndicate with the aid of informers and martial arts. Granted, this film is an evident parody of action movies from Hong Kong, but the deliberately stilted dialogue and violence tends to lose its initial appeal. One could assess this movie as a pale imitation of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill franchise. However, once you accept this movie’s off-the-wall ground rules, then it might not be too awkward a viewing experience.
The film opens with the odd alternating of shots between a Cantonese festival in Melbourne and ex-cop Joe Lucky (Hill) “getting cosy” with his fiancé Esmay (Mary Annegeline) at their service apartment. He barely leaves for a job interview when outlandishly-dressed assailants burst into the house and kill the lady. Grieving and infuriated, Joe vows to his lover’s sister Little Lee (Tien Herschel) that he will find and murder those responsible. But being only an ex-cop, he possesses neither a licensed gun nor the police network to succeed in his mission. However, a former colleague gives him a lead. In the meantime, the audience gets a taste of the brutal lady mob boss - Ishtar (Tritia DeViSha), who was behind Esmay’s elimination.
While being well set up by this point, the narrative then plods along with Joe moving from one informer to the next. Longish interludes of him driving his fancy car and travelling on foot don’t help with the film’s pacing. Plus, attempts to establish the extent of Joe’s sorrow do not adequately succeed. When Ishtar’s associates Mr. Gosling (Cory Corbett) and is brother (Robert Mason) enter the fray, a showdown with Joe is around the corner. Clues retrieved from the duo lead Joe closer to his target. But will he end up getting there, especially with several henchman and henchwomen standing in his way?
The film’s overdose of formulaic style causes a negligence of providing substance to the story. The motive behind Esmay’s killing is not properly established, although there are a couple of brief hints. Meanwhile, pivotal scenes are left hanging, leaving the viewer to guess what has transpired. However, some of the conversation is oddly witty, like when Joe confronts one of Ishtar’s subordinates with the defiant phrase, “I’m Mr. Question. You’re Mr. Answer!” Also, an unusual weapon that Joe wields in the course of the film makes for a strangely appealing touch. And though the hand-to-hand combat scenes look clumsy, decent editing helps to salvage them.
The film’s gruesome penultimate scene and the unexpected closing line serve as minor compensation for this lacklustre attempt at filmmaking. The cinematography, though providing some memorable shots like the images of Melbourne’s Chinatown, falls short of making any real impression. The film at times plays out almost like a video game, going from one altercation to another, with a lot of bloodshed along the way. There are no real revelations or epiphanies and the strange tendency to place footage from two different scenes simultaneously can get a bit off-putting. All in all, this is an average action flick trying to make itself out to be bigger and funnier than it is.
