[usr 3.5]
After deadly terrorists abduct his niece at a soccer match, an ex-soldier with lethal fighting skills wages a one-man war to save her and prevent mass destruction.
After the success of “Die Hard” in 1988, it seemed that every major every action movie thereafter was referred to the classic film. In 1991 when Steven Seagal starred in “Under Siege,” it was called “Die Hard on a Ship.” When Keanu Reeves appeared in “Speed” in 1994, it was referred to as “Die Hard on a Bus,” “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory” was “Die Hard on a Train” and the list goes on. After the third and last great “Die Hard” movie, “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” the “Die Hard on a…” moniker seemed to all but disappear. Granted, while action films continued to be made and many of them stole directly from “Die Hard,” Jean-Claude Van Damme’s enjoyable “Sudden Death” and the recent Dwayne Johnson actioner, “Skyscraper,” which also borrowed heavily from “The Towering Inferno,” fans knew, just by watching a trailer or reading a movie’s synopsis, that it was ripping off the Bruce Willis classic.
With “Final Score,” I have to give the filmmakers kudos for setting their picture in England and in a football stadium no less but Americans would call it a soccer stadium. It stars Dave Bautista (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Pierce Brosnan (“Goldeneye”), and Ray Stevenson (“Punisher: War Zone”). Bautista plays Michael Knox, a former American soldier who lost his bother many years ago while they were on a mission in Afghanistan. Feeling guilty for his brother’s death, Michael frequently travels across the pond to England where he checks on his sister-in-law Rachel (Lucy Gaskell) and 15-year-old niece, Danni (Lara Peake). On his most recent visit, he scores two tickets to a football game at West Ham stadium where he plans on taking Danni. Having been grounded by her mother, Michael sweet talks Rachel into letting her go with him.
Once inside the stadium, however, things quickly go south when Michael realizes that all of the doors and entrances have been sealed shut and that everyone’s cell phones have no signal. When Danni decides to hook up with a local boy and disappears, Michael frantically searches for her and in doing so, uncovers a plot by Russian separatists to blow up the stadium which would kill all 35,000 people inside it, unless their demands are met. Arkady Belav (Ray Stevenson) and his brother Dimitri (Pierce Brosnan) were once very powerful generals who led a revolution inside the Russian state of Sakovya for independence. When it was announced that Dimitri was killed, Arkady was arrested and put in prison but years later, upon learning that Dimitri was not killed but did, in fact, defect to the West in exchange for a new appearance, Arkady manages to break out of prison and having discovered that he is attending the football match in West Ham stadium, holds everyone inside hostage until he and Dimitri can be reunited, where he plans on resuming their revolution. Of course, there is only one problem in their way…Michael Knox!
There is absolutely nothing original about “Final Score,” it is an updated version of “Die Hard,” something Dave Bautista even references in the making of the film, calling it, “Die Hard in a Football Stadium.” There is even a couple within the group of bad guys, a man and woman who are eerily reminiscent of a couple from “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” and as the movie unspools, “Final Score” has no shame in ripping off nearly every other action film ever made. Having said that, I still found it immensely enjoyable. The combined talents of Dave Bautista, Pierce Brosnan, and Ray Stevenson create a likable cast in a very conventional narrative. Bautista is proving himself a reliable action hero, joining the ranks of Dwayne Johnson and Michael Cena and while he is not yet at the point where his acting is wholly believable, with time, and with more original movies, he will get there.
Available on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital), DVD, and Digital HD November 13th
