HOUNDS OF WAR Review: Frank Grillo Evens The Playing Field In Isaac Florentine’s Leveled-Up Revenge Thriller
Hounds Of War arrives on Digital on September 20 from XYZ Films.
The current state of Isaac Florentine’s directing career is a bit of a mystery these days. He still remains as a fixture among the cadre of take-home action fandom for most, particularly having sheperded the post-Walter Hill Undisputed sequels of DTV lore amid his 30+ year career proliferating some of the best in martial arts movie stardom. Interestingly, he’s had a few core signs during this period that he was maturing (or at least trying to) as a director, namely with films like Assassin’s Bullet and Antonio Banderas starrer, Acts Of Vengance.
His latest now comes after wrapping things up with his Boyka-of-choice with Scott Adkins starrer, Seized, having since collaborated with leading man Frank Grillo whose name has been on the chyron of trade casting reports almost year round for more than a decade now, having worked with directors like Jon Swab, Joe Carnahan, Liam O’Donnell, the Russo Brothers, James DeMonaco, Patrick Hughes, and others. For this, we turn to Hounds Of War, which arrives on Digital this weekend from XYZ Films, and the pairing is a fruitful one for the most part, particularly with Grillo right in his element for the kind of role he typically enjoys playing, and with Florentine back at the bullhorn to call the shots.
Fans of Florentine’s films might also recognize the pattern by which Hounds Of War abides, at least for its first half; The meat-and-potatoes here is a revenge thriller that starts off, albeit seemingly, with an assassination already in progress. That prologue is what gets the film on track with a story set six months earlier in which Ryder (Grillo) reunites with his brother and father-to-be, Bulldog (Leeshon Alexander) at a gathering of their former mercenary team, steered by Colonel Hart (Robert Patrick). Already bereaved from a past job that botched under Hart’s watch, Ryder decides to accept Hart’s mission at the behest of his brother to infiltrate a fortified hotel in a foreign country to take out a vicious warlord and his increasing army.
That aforementioned pattern from earlier comes right into play when Ryder and his team find themselves ambushed, and as the film’s plot has already revealed, leaves Ryder as the sole survivor. Six months later, we catch up with Ryder who reunites with former flame Selina (Rhona Mitra), in an effort to assemble a team for a particular mission of his own. It’s a mission that commences right on cue as the U.S. President (Matthew Marsh) is on a global agenda to appeal to the world, with the fallout resulting in something a little sweeter than mere vengeance by the film’s third act.
XYZ Films
Hounds Of War takes a bit of time to get started but definitely eases its way in some. Grillo is a solid lead with a touch of screen chemistry to share with Mitra who both gets to chew up and punch her way through the dramatic and action scenery throughout the film’s second half. The supplemental casting of action favorites joining our mains spices things up some on the fight scene front with respective performances by Seydina Balde, Joey Ansah, and Mark Hoang, along with Lee Charles and German players Mike Moeller and Eskindir Tesfay throwing down, all assuredly giving fight choreographer David Wald ample wiggle room to help deliver the goods. The major morsel of the action setup here is an extensive high-speed chase to preamble the film’s climatic finish.
Robert Patrick is the clear and equally unrelenting villain of choice – something the official trailer also laid thick last month. To this end, the timing of this reveal in the story is surprisingly early, but engineered accordingly as an expectant plot device to further purloin viewer interest as we follow Ryder’s quest. The ensuing finality in Hounds Of War underscores themes pertinent to the kind of damning government accountability that rightly brings things full circle aside from mere paper-thin revenge driven spectacle. Much to the viewers’ chagrin, however, this endgame may fall short of expectations with little resonance and depth brought to the losses of the mercenary team in the events culminating the first half hour.
Barring its share of short comings, Hounds Of War signals a fair step in the right direction for Florentine who could use the evolution, and this is an opinion shared from plenty of his fans who’ve pined over the years to see the action auteur go bigger and better. Overlooking and sweeping visuals over paradisiacal Mediterranean locales are largely the backdrop of Florentine’s maturely-paced and stimulating tale of espionage and retribution with a larger scope in hand, and a grade-A cast for a film that, while eschews the replete martial arts fan service of previous works, packs in a lean and requisitely mean balance of fight-festive entertainment and dramatic workmanship.
