TROUBLE MAN Review: Michael Jai White Answers Where Trouble Calls In His New Maverick Action Comedy Thriller
Nearly fifteen years into a directing career to top his extensive screen résumé, Michael Jai White arrives with his fourth helming effort, Trouble Man. The latest out of his recently-launched Jaigantic Studios label, White stars in the title role from a script by Michael Stradford, in their first collaboration together since Stradford served as supervising producer on Ron Yuan’s 2009 short, Three Bullets.
Jaxen (White) is a former cop-cum-odd jobber whose conditional employment provides him a feasible living; When he’s not maintaining order as the head of security for a local nightclub, he’s peacekeeping on the streets, exclusively hired to solve problems relayed to him via the club’s owner, Ree Ree (Mike Epps). When Jaxen learns of the mysterious disappearance of Jahari (Alani “La La” Anthony), a beautiful recording artist he used to bodyguard for, the independent private eye is hired by her disreputable record label owner, Holden (Orlando Jones), to find her before the company goes public with her album launch.
Further complications arise when Jaxen suddenly runs into event planner Gina (Gillian White), an old flame whose business dealings ultimately clash with Jaxen’s mission following what should have been a prospective romantic reunion. Jaxen’s investigation then leads him to Jahari’s latest suitor, Money (Cliff “Method Man” Smith), and the two join forces to find her, tackling gun-toting gangsters and henchmen, and a twist involving Holden’s prospective business partner, Yuen Song (Levy Tran). As Jaxen and his allies inch closer to finding Jahari, the question of whether or not he can solve this case while keeping Gina alive after she becomes a target, is another mystery.
White’s acting career as made him a boon in the martial arts and action genre, including films like cult favorite Scott Sanders’s 2009 blaxploitation send-up, Black Dynamite, and White’s 2023 spiritual successor to that film, The Outlaw Johnny Black. Both are films that contribute to White’s veracity as a multifaceted mainstay in film with hits like Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, Blood And Bone, and serving both sides of the lens for the 2011 and 2016 Never Back Down sequels to name a few.
Trouble Man contributes to that same endurance with a modest scope, and a story and script that plays it up serious at times, and comedic at others, often teetering in its efforts to balance the two aspects. White, smooth-as-ice with the ladies and even smoother when moving through the roughest of roughnecks, remains a force to be reckoned with on screen, and otherwise in his element with a character that allows him to add his own touch for a new generation of moviegoers – even better if it instills some renewed curiosity toward actor Robert Hooks’s 1972 portrayal in any capacity. His on screen love interest and real life spouse, Gillian White proves adequate as his equal in bringing Jaxen’s foundational love story forward, sprinkled with a touch of Wing Chun to their burgeoning romance. Their revival bodes with potential aplenty, but is imperiled by the violent downside of Jaxen’s work, as well as the presumed past he shares with Jahari.
Smith’s casting warrants some winning comedic moments in the role of Money, a character that holds his own between the action and drama. He has more cars than Jaxen can count, more guns than Jaxen cares to want or need, a appreciation for blaxploitation movies that borders on philosophical, and an apparent sense of style that demands him to dress for the occasion, even in the middle of a gunfight. Co-star Tran is especially fun to watch in the scintillating role of sword-wielding shotcaller Song in her latest with White since sharing the set of Christian Sesma’s 2016 actioner, Vigilante Diaries.
Playing up some of the film’s extra comedic bits is Epps in the supporting role of Ree Ree, along with a special appearance by Robert Wilmote, best known by netizens as his alterego @ndo_champ. Yes, he sways his jacked-up torso in bogarding fashion, and while he doesn’t kick snacks and cheat meals out of peoples’ hands while in passing, he does get to scratch his itch to beat down some fools in the third act.
The action is also where much of the cast shines, with fight direction by way of Joey Min (Player Agency) who, in recent years, has collaborated with the likes of Willie “Bam” Johnson, and Hong Kong vets Robert Samuels and Vincent Lyn on several indie projects. Min and his action team, comprised of Stephanie Pham and Angela Jordan make their debut on a major studio production in Trouble Man, six years after breaking into feature-length territory with Min’s own in-house action comedy, Yes, Auntie!. It’s a collaboration that almost feels fated considering Min is a multi-awarded talent at New York’s Urban Action Showcase, where White is also a venerated and influential presence.
Min’s specialty in Shaolin Kung Fu also comes in handy in the film’s vision, particularly for White who, as I’ve been told by a source close to this production, campaigned ardently to have Min and his team on board. The result is an exceptional bevy of fight scenes catered to the strengths of the film’s star, as well as many of its players, including actors Noah Fleder and Theodore Park who play Song’s ruthless bodyguards. Janky blue screen sequences for the film’s bigger setpieces tend to saturate for the eyes, particularly for the film’s rooftop finale for the whose only saving grace is the action, and moments where less camera movement is required.
As a fan of White who has followed his career as much as nearly any other fan since he broke out as Spawn, it’s great to see White still pounding the pavement and doing his thing as a filmmaker all-around. Taking the initiative beyond the Hollywood system to plot his own trajectory merits praise, with Trouble Man etching another worthy notch for White as an independent movie mogul in the making. Notwithstanding its minute stumbles in scripting and technological advancements, the performances and promising action alone make Trouble Man an adequate experience that, with enough popcorn in hand, shouldn’t beleaguer you too much.
Trouble Man is now available in select theaters and digital from Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Subscribe to Min’s work at Art School Dropouts on YouTube.
