THE BAKER Review: Jonathan Sobol’s Hit-Or-Miss Revenge Thriller Oddly Hits The Spot

The Baker is now playing in theaters from Falling Forward Films.

Ron Perlman is back on screen as of the weekend in his latest, The Baker, a gritty new crime thriller from director Jonathan Sobol. The cast also includes Joel David Moore, Elias Koteas and Harvey Keitel, and introduces young actress Emma Ho from a script by Thomas Michael and Paolo Mancini, the latter who also co-stars.

Where that script takes us is directly into the reclusive, stoic world of a man named “Pappi” (Perlman), who when not waking up aghast after every nightmaring sleep, dives right into his regimen as a baker with his own shop. Save for the watch on his wrist that brings him back to focus with a rhythmic tick, his life is about as quiet as quiet gets.

Par for the course however is the intro in which we meet Peter (Moore), fresh off his flight and sitting quietly in a corner as the only witness to a drug ambush gone horribly wrong. The shot we see of him seemingly calling for emergency assistance is a moment frozen in time merged right into the minute we’re introduced to his daughter, Delphi (Ho), a mute with a peculiar interest in the finer things.

The film proceeds as Peter rushes Delphi out of school and hurriedly jettisons themselves out to Pappi’s bakery, in an awkward reunion that sees father and son together for the first time in a long time, and with a granddaughter now in the mix. Peter’s auspicious slate of plans appear to be in real-time focus right then as he looks to take Delphi on a trip, but before all else, and much to the tempermental Delphi’s chagrin, he’s got some business to take care of first.

That business, unfortunately, is what lands Peter squarely at the right place, and at the wrong time. Just as the fidgety and curious Delphi tries for about a day to mitigate her way around Pappi who, until now, has been accustomed to his space being his, the phone rings and little do either of them know that it’s Peter in his final moments before being shot after a brutally interrogation.

Making matters worse is the debacle that led to this in the first place, with Pappi pressing an inaudible Delphi for answers. In comes the young girl with a knapsack full of drugs she took out of a duffelbag that ultimately cost her father his life, thus initiating Pappi’s dangerous and deadly quest to learn more about the drugs, as well as find Peter’s killer as well as his missing body. And not for nothing either, as Pappi’s mission now means keeping Delphi as safe as possible, despite personal afflictions and habitual goings and enabled behavior – some of which she’s gotten from her father thanks to a good deal of his fatalist “me-first” worldview.

The Baker doesn’t have a scene that illustrates this aspect about Delphi, but it does the apt work of explaining her trauma, along with her penchant for purloining things without asking, and at one point obsessively buckling Pappi’s seatbelt against his will. More importantly, the film admirably tackles the entrenching father/son paradigm with a few flashbacks to help paint an ample picture of Pappi’s pain, the residual effect of what happens when family members are either torn, or grow apart from one another. There’s also a certain unraveling to Koteas’ role of Vic that can only be seen to be understood as the bodies begin to stack up. It’s really more of an addendum by the second half, but I felt it added a touch of veracity to the film, specifically in a way that effects Perlman’s character toward a more transformative goal.

As a crime noir with action as its sidebar, The Baker holds up when it’s time to throwdown, featuring choreography by Vincent Boullion. The first fight scene – between maksed robbers and a drug trafficker in which knives, guns and sheer will are weapons of choice – is a an indicator of just how violent things get. The rest of the action abstains a little more from the gory end of things, while choreography and stunt coordination are done equitably well enough that the film acknowledgably tries to live up to some expectations.

Other milestone moments include a nightclub bathroom fight between Pappi and one of The Merchant’s enforcers (played by Ronnie James Hughes), and a sequence on Pappi’s company truck between him and a henchman with Delphi just inches away hiding from the violence. The latter is where cinematography gets a bit more tonally dissonant from the rest of the film’s action, using oner-style editing with crucial angling and the cover of darkness to hide the face of Perlman’s stunt double, Vincent Berdoulle.

Far from the John Wick or Lone Wolf And Cub comparisons one might posit when it comes to The Baker, the film’s overall substance, topped with Perlman’s performance makes it worth the praise. Do with the convo on aging stars in action movies what you will. Personally, I got just a little more from this film than at least one other release this week featuring an actor who built his career off of being one of the biggest men of action cinema during our lifetimes. It’s almost pretty weird saying that, but we are living in some pretty weird ass times lately.

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Lee B. Golden III

filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com | Web

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.