There’s something gratifying when you hear news of director Andrzej Bartkowiak finally sitting in the director’s chair of an action film. It’s been well over a decade and change since his previous work on films such as Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 The Grave graced audience with contemporary martial arts action cosigned with stylish choreography that notably raised the profile for Jet Li, budding at the time in his Hollywood crossover.
Since then, Bartkowiak has been off the radar; The negative reception of Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li surely didn’t help any, and especially prior to injuring prospects for doomed Turkish-backed Scott Adkins/Cyril Raffaelli collab, Dark Deal, back in 2010. From there, it was anyone’s guess as to what was next for the director who helped bring Jet Li to the fold and thus, leave it to Alexander Nevsky whose own poise in becoming a self-sustaining film multi-hyphenate on both sides of the lens now brings us their latest pairing, Maximum Impact.
When the granddaughter of the US Secretary of the State is kidnapped in Moscow, an agent of the Federal Security Service of Russia (Alexander Nevsky) and the US Secret Service are forced to pull aside their differences and work together to prevent a full-scale international crisis.
Rush Hour scribe Ross LaManna penned the script for the new action thriller that sees Bartkowiak reuniting with familar talents such as Kelly Hu, Tom Arnold, and especially actor Mark Dacascos whose in his latest continuation in film partnership with Nevsky after debut directing the martial arts ensemble-cast Showdown In Manila. Also starring are William Baldwin, Danny Trejo and Matthias Hues.
The arrival of Maximum Impact comes just in time as Nevsky’s latest ceremony is due this month at the 14th Action On Film Festival where he will screen the film upon claiming its 2018 Breakout Action Star Award.
Maximum Impact has already seen screens in Russia/CIA and following its acquisition by Unified Pictures, a U.S. select release is on deck for September 28 with On Demand, DVD, Blu-ray and Digital releases slated for October 2, 2018.
Read more at Collider.
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Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.
