HUNTING JESSICA BROK Review: Danica Jones Is A One-Woman Army In Alastair Orr’s Full-Throttle Actioner
Hunting Jessica Brok opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, February 13 from Quiver Distribution.
South African productions have been one of the more delightful areas for me when eyeing action films. Namely, I’ve been a fan of stunt professional Deville Van Niekerk’s work for a while now, so when he shared news of the South African release of Alastair Orr’s new action thriller Hunting Jessica Brok late last year, my interest was immediately piqued. To this, the film’s release has been picked up by Quiver Distribution for the U.S. which is, gladly, where my voice comes in.
I screened this film at home earlier this week and only released the following day while sifting through credits, of a little bonus that I nearly missed out on. We’ll get to that gem later, but it culminates firmly the excitement that this film earns in its tried and truly entertaining spectacle, featuring leading lady Danica Jones in her second turn on the big screen in the states this month after Gore Verbinski’s new sci-fi romp, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die from Briarcliff…
Funny, that wording alone sounds like what would’ve been an alternatively dope tagline for Orr’s latest, whose titular character gets thrust from jump into the fight of her life. Written by Orr along with David Jones and Garth McCarthy, Hunting Jessica Brok preambles its mainstory with an explosive special forces raid on an illegal poaching compound in Angola in 2013 that turns into something more revelatory and far worse for our protagonist.
Fast forward to present day in South Africa and our protagonist, Jessica (Jones), now resides in her new life away from the battlefield. She’s got a new alias, a new job, and a new role as a mother to young Nikki (Katherine Neethling). Invariably, however, all of these things have come at a price that Jessica will be forced to pay when Lazar (Richard Lukunku), the vengeful warlord that wiped out almost her entire team and nearly took her life years earlier, finds, kidnaps and holds her captive in a remote outpost far from civilization.
A split-second chance to free herself soon approaches hours later after being beaten and tormented, and Jessica is pursued once more by Lazar and his ruthless party of gun-toting mercenaries and businessman with grudges of their own, as well as his sadistic wife Sherri (Hlubi Mboya), and aggrieved brother, Sergei (Anthony Oseyemi). With nowhere to run or hide, Jessica has no choice but to face her past in order to save what remains of her future.
I’ve done what I can up to now to hold back some details here for want of a spoiler free review, but I will allude to the crucial role of Daniel – played by Clyde Berning – which contributes far more to the story at several moments throughout the film. It’s a terrific anchor to our heroine’s fight for most of the film’s runtime with Jessica confronting perhaps the biggest and quite possibly the most deadly twist among the high stakes in Orr’s thriller.
With that on the table, you can take comfort in seeing Hunting Jessica Brok as a searing, propulsive action thriller with Jones as a force to be reckoned with. I’m not quite sure how much prep was involved for her role, but you can imagine the kind of training needed for one to look even half as convincing, and you can clearly see Jones and the rest of the cast came prepared. Between the drama and what the action scenes demanded here, as far as I’m concerned, Jones is the whole package.
The film’s intercedent drama keeps things moving as well with Lazar’s unwavering need to get even with Jessica after their shared scrimmages more than a decade earlier. Aside from Lazar’s ragtag bunch of lascivious and malfeasant killers, Orr’s film provides reliable focus on the upheaval with Lazar’s need to maintain what he thinks is the upper hand. That ultimately includes dealing with the inner fractures between him and Sherri, and with Sergei, the latter who until now has only killed a wilderbeast. It’s an enticing setup to a climatic battle in the second half that makes the ending feel so augurous and all the more enticing.
Hunting Jessica Brok has all the trimmings you could collectively want in a female-fronted action flick for the 2020s. The acting is great, most of the visuals are feasible and don’t bite on screen, and action setpieces – crafted by the aforementioned Niekerk and by Francois Groenewald – are brutal, bloody and wonderfully done as Jones channels her inner-Rambo, or John Wick (or whatever relevant fanservice euphemism your brain clicks to).
Every action sequence and dramatic moment pulls you into a marathon of non-stop thrills. It’s all amply paced and interwoven together in Hunting Jessica Brok, delivering a refreshing, emotive and enduring and action flick, and with a fierce headlining talent in Jones for a saga that, in this critic’s view, feels like the start of a necessary twofer.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!
