THE BOUNCER Review: John Ozuna Tangos With Romanian Gangsters In Masimiliano Cerchi’s Latest

I learned about actor and martial artist John Ozuna when I was covering some of director Rene Perez’s work back in 2018. What I didn’t know – at least until this draft – was that Ozuna is a Guinness World Record-holding martial artist on top of that, crowned for throwing well over seven-hundred punches in a minute, and clocking the world’s fastest martial arts punch at 43.3 miles per hour.

These are all impressive feats to share with the niche, while Ozuna has since stepped up to the challenge of adding “screen actor” to his tradecraft with a number of credits to show for his efforts. Ozuna’s latest work, The Bouncer, is already out on VOD from Vision Films, from director Massimiliano Cerchi.

Penned by Adrian Milnes, The Bouncer is set in the city of Bucharest where we meet Frank (Ozuna), a nightclub bouncer who finds himself crossing paths with Kane (Mandylor), a notorious gangster with his hands on everything atrocious you could probably imagine, including human trafficking being one of them. Concerned with the safety of the women Kane keeps bringing out with him at night, and against all the advice of fellow doorman, Carl (Simon Phillips), Frank leaps into action when Kane’s latest prospect, Silvia (Rosemary Yaneva) ends up on the wrong side of Kane’s abusive temper.

The incident sets off a citywide manhunt as Kane and his goons source all of his underworld connections throughout the Romanian capital to hunt down Frank and Silvia. As the night wanes and the two hop from one getaway car to another in hopes of finding safe haven, it’s only a matter of time before Frank and Silvia are cornered with no choice but to take a stand against Kane once and for all.

I’d never seen any of Cerchi’s films before, so The Bouncer marks my first real dive into any of his work. I was also interested in seeing what Ozuna can bring to the table as an artist who typically falls within my purview of coverage, and to be honest, I was more entertained in a just few spaces of what The Bouncer has to offer for its eighty-minute runtime than I thought I would be.

The film takes a few weird turns in its overall trajectory. There are technical aspects of the film’s story progression that leave it up to the viewer to decide what connectivity and relevance there is. Moreover, there are visible shortfalls and tropes that are usually characteristic of independent production that make the film feel more like a chore than desired.

I can see the potential in casting Ozuna, and that’s just it. While there’s room for improvement in the acting, his screenfighting and movement show promise as a someone who can probably do way more with a better vision at the helm. Mandylor’s unrelenting antagonist and Phillips’s supporting help eke out a little more in the film’s dramatic delivery when it counted, which is more than I can say for the rest of the performances throughout.

That especially goes for the film’s handful of fight scenes which Ozuna himself choreographs. Ozuna is fun to watch in action, as well as seeing him next to Yaneva whose character gets to show that she’s more than a distressed damsel. Some of the extras and stunt performers could do a lot better in terms of reactions and delivery, particularly when they’re given lines.

The Bouncer is worth a fair rental if you have a few bucks to spend and you’re curious to see who Ozuna is in his current climb to action stardom. Beyond that, he’s got the moves and the ceremony to show for it, but he isn’t at his best here, and I do think his best is still yet to come with the right project, and director.