BLACK SITE (2022)

BLACK SITE (2022)

Tagline: None.

(Adventure, Thriller, ) [R]

Come on Wesley, let's grab the C4 so we can blow our way out of here.

This story revolves around Abby Trent who is second in command at a CIA black site named “Citadel” that houses a large number of suspected terrorists. With Abby having only three days left at the site, a particularly dangerous butcher named Hatchet is being brought in. When I say butcher, I am not talking about the guys over in the meat department, I am talking about a full-blown killer. Abby and the rest of the team must fight for their lives with death around every corner. If he gets out of the facility the fate of the world is at stake. 

One thing I have seen in a few reviews on this thing is people ripping on the effects. However, the effects are actually pretty solid outside of when they try to show a satellite that looks like it might be from the early 90s. There are also some explosions that are clearly CGI. It is rough, but with the rest of the movie having adequate everything, I don’t really see why this was even a complaint. If this movie proves anything it’s that Michelle Monaghan (PIXELS) can still carry an action flick as the lead. She can also kick your teeth in if she needs to. Seeing a fight between Abby and JJ Collins from INTERCEPTOR. It goes without saying, Monahan is awesome in this.  

Regarding the rest of the main cast Jason Clarke (TERMINATOR GENISYS) always makes a pretty great bad guy. I like that he can play both the protagonist and antagonist really well. He is stellar as Hatchet in this and you can’t wait for this dude to get what’s coming to him. The other lead actor here that is very recognizable is Jai Courtney (also from TERMINATOR GENISYS). I can’t stand him in most things but he is slightly better than usual in this. I don’t like his character and I don’t like his acting style as Raymond Miller. I haven’t seen Phoenix Raei in anything else but he is good in this as Uri Wasserman. We also get Lucy Barrett who is good in the short time she has on screen as Mia Davis. I am not familiar with any of her other work. 

Storyline wise this one is pretty interesting and the twist we get at the end is pretty bonkers. I actually really liked that touch. I don’t know if this is quite as brutal as INTERCEPTOR, but the number of f-bombs dropped would wipe out a small city. For me, that is never an upside. It means the writer has a pretty limited vocabulary. The score is fine and the soundtrack falls under the “okay” category till we get to the final song “Wolf Blood” by D’Arcy Spiller. I thought that was a pretty cool touch. It reminds me a bit of when Luc Besson decided to throw Alexiane’s “A Million On My Soul” at the end of VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS. 

It does sound like they wanted to do a sequel to this film the way they ended it, so it will be interesting to see if anything comes of that. We find out about as much about Abby Trent as we do about Ethan Hunt in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III, so it feels like there is more story to be told here. It does look like this went direct to video aside from a limited theatrical release that only brought in $69,000. That is way under what it cost to even do a promotional package for a film with three high-caliber talents in it. 

I have to give this one a 4 out of 7. Lower than INTERCEPTOR because it felt just a bit too claustrophobic. The two movies are very similar films. This is a movie I would watch again, probably on a “strong females will kick your teeth in while trapped in a secret facility day”.

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