One Shot (2021)

 

            I am working my way through war movies from 2021 and 2022 to prepare my Buffy Awards from those two years.  I’m getting to the bottom of the barrel, which means movies with crappy Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB scores.  I am not in any hurry to see those.  I thought “One Shot” was an unlikely Buffy winner, but it is easily available on Hulu.  It is a British action pic directed by James Nunn.

            Four Navy SEALs are tasked with transferring a terrorist detainee from a black site prison to Washington, D.C.  The CIA analyst named Zoe (Ashley Khoury) is closed-mouthed about the reason for this.  There is some grumbling from the boys, but leader Jake Harris (Scott Adkins) reminds them that they will follow orders, no matter what.  When they arrive, the warden (Ryan Phillippe) is reluctant to give up his prisoner.  While he is waiting for confirmation, Zoe is taken to the prisoner.  Mansur (Waleed Elgadi) is being tortured.  Zoe is the type of bleeding heart who insists you get more from positive reinforcement than from pain reinforcement.  Mansur insists he is just a small fish.   However, the CIA thinks he knows about a nuclear dirty bomb that is somewhere in Washington, D.C.  A truck arrives at the prison and a large group of terrorists and mercenaries break into the facility.  They are led by a jihadist who is determined to make sure Mansur doesn’t talk.  About ten minutes into the movie, the killing begins and it doesn’t let up until the end of the movie

            I did not do any reading on the movie before watching it.  Early in the bloodletting, I noted that the movie was in the midst of a long take.  I love those, so I was waiting for the next cut and marveling at how long it was taking to get a break in the cinematography.  It kept going and going. I also made a head-shaking observation that the title of the movie must be a joke because the action was the opposite of one shot.  The amount of ammo expended is prodigious.  It was only after viewing that I read that the entire movie is one shot.  Get it?  My theory is the director was impressed with the long take in “Extraction” and asked himself “what if an entire action movie was shot in one take?”  For a brainless shoot-em-up, the movie is amazing to watch.  You will marvel at the choreography that allowed for one continuous shot.  The cameraman’s movements are much more impressive than the movements of the goons.  They tend to run out into the open to get killed (like every movie like this).  You will also marvel at the incredible body count.  And the incredible amount of bullets that Harris’ pistol holds.  Reloading is not a priority for director Nunn.  Speaking of incredible, that truck sure held a lot of bad guys.  It was like a kicked ant hill.  But why quibble about a movie that is not attempting to win an Academy Award?

            Do they give an award to the movie that most resembles a first-person shooter game?  If so, we have a winner.  The second half of the movie mostly tracks Harris as he first tries to establish communications with the outside world and second, tries to catch Mansur before the enemy can kill him.  After all, his job is to transfer the prisoner.  As Harris navigates to the comm room, he viciously knifes five guys in a row.  As he chases Mansur, he maneuvers in the prison grounds with his trusty pistol.  The grounds are home to a large number of obstacles to hide behind.  Sound familiar, gamers?  Unfortunately, there is no BFG lying around.  But he really doesn’t need one.  Harris’ odyssey includes two kickass fights.  The last is with the head baddie, of course.

            The acting is not as bad as you would imagine.  The poor schlub of a jihadist (Mansur) is portrayed sympathetically by Elgadi.  And Adkins makes for a good generic action star.  He doesn’t have much to say, other than constantly reminding his comrades that “theirs is not to wonder why”.  The dialogue does not set this above its ilk, but at least it is not laughable.

            I am not a big fan of combat porn, unless it’s a Korean war movie.  I did enjoy “One Shot” even though one web site claims Harris kills over 50 people.  I have played some FPS, so seeing it enacted by actors instead of CGP (computer generated people) was interesting.  And I already mentioned I’m a sucker for long takes.  And mass killing of terrorists and their mercenary buddies.  So grab the popcorn, but don’t take a drink every time Harris knifes someone.  You won’t be conscious by the end of the movie.

GRADE  =  B-