Ryan Shoots First: Avengement

Bulletproof Action favorite Scott Adkins is back in Avengement! In this bloody romp Adkins plays the convicted silver toothed felon on furlough for his mother’s death. While he is paying his respects he manages to escape his patrol. He immediately visits a pub with Knackers Ale on tap. I know this because it was the largest tap marker ever and was placed dead center on screen. Nice product placement. This scene also features an actor who played one of the Lannister soldiers that was camping with Ed Sheeran last season on Game of Thrones.  I also had trouble following the dialogue in this scene. If it wasn’t the F word it was British pub slang, I had a hard time tagging along.

It turns out he has come here for a very specific reason. He’s on a trail of revenge and it has lead him here after a man named Lincoln his brother who is behind all of his troubles. Adkins is ruthless and brutal in this film. He usually plays characters with an edge but Cain Burgess takes it to another level. This is no misunderstood man with a past but a heart of gold. This is cold blooded revenge with no apologies, just how we like it.

We see a flashback to a pearly white teethed Cain before he got caught up in the wrong game and was sent down this life of death and revenge after being sent to the equivalent of the British Gulag and having no criminal record. Adkins can sometimes play roles a little to relaxed but he is really on point here. He talks more and has energy and aggression to his character. I would like to see him bring this much commitment to future roles but when you are as busy as he is I can understand. Avengement gets his undivided attention.

The fight scenes and action scenes are just brutal including the one explaining how he got his silver teeth. If slugfest beatdown fight scenes are your thing this film will scratch that itch. British slang and British grit is imprinted all over this film. One of the many prison fight scenes happening in front of a sign saying “No Bullying Zone” was a nice touch. The movie does an excellent job showing the growth of how Cain becomes such a maniac fighting for his life everyday in a flawed system that’s only purpose is to break him.

While exaggerated of course there is something to be said for the idea of our prison system incarcerating people for minor crimes and turning them into hardened criminals. I don’t know if the movie is going for this angle but our system is flawed and the film plays on the idea of what this type of world can do to the human mind.

I also enjoyed how the movie plays out with Cain holding up the gang members in the pub and slowly revealing not only his past in the prison but also all the shenanigans he had been getting up to leading up to that moment. The trap he had set inside his brothers organization. It keeps the movie flowing and slowly trickles information and exposition.

Avengement could have been another cookie cutter revenge film with some brutal fights but it’s structure and Adkins performance make it a worthwhile trip. You may get lost like me in the British slang but if you can hang in there it’s a bloody good time.