Hitting streaming platforms January 7, The Mercenary is the latest action film from director Jesse V. Johnson. Johnson’s films are marked by familiar, revenge-based action formulas; strong action scenes; and solid, no-nonsense performances. If you like action that leans more to blood-and-guts than technical fighting, Johnson titles like Avengement and Triple Threat probably fit the bill.
Released by Uncork’d Entertainment, The Mercenary, a somber movie about redemption, is a showcase for Dominiquie Vandenberg, a Belgian martial artist who also appeared in Triple Threat. Vandenberg’s description of his life deserves a film of its own. He abandoned martial arts after breaking his leg, joined the French Foreign Legion 2 Rep Airborne Para Commando Regiment, did time for street fighting, then broke into the film industry as a trainer and action choreographer.
In The Mercenary, Vandenberg plays Maxx, part of an elite team of fighters under LeClerc (a boisterous, entertaining Louis Mandylor). Opening scenes show the team taking out opponents in “Central Africa” and Iraq before switching to Colombia. There Maxx is betrayed and left for dead when he tries to defend a woman from rape.
Maxx is nursed back to health by Father Elias (Carmen Argenziano), whose poverty-stricken parish is threatened by a local drug cartel. And the new enforcer for the cartel is none other than LeClerc.
David Filmore’s script takes some stabs at questioning the mercenary code. Before the Colombia operation, Maxx begins to wonder about killing for money. Elias cites the call for nonviolence from Matthew’s gospel. Because this is an action film, none of that sticks for long, but at least the subject is acknowledged. The transition back to violence occurs a bit too quickly, but that’s also a function of the genre formula.
When a couple of cartel thugs threaten parishioners, Maxx takes them out without killing them. But LeClerc keeps upping the ante until Maxx is forced to strike back for real. There’s an undeniable satisfaction to watching a revenge plot play out, and this one — with its echoes of Westerns and Cannon B-movies of the 1980s — is no exception.
Fight choreographer Malay Kim and stunt coordinator Luke LaFontaine work to Vandenberg’s strengths, building momentum as the story progresses and only occasionally stooping to gratuitous gore. DP Casey McBeath’s work is solid if unexceptional. You could say the same about Johnson, who delivers the goods in an unpretentious manner.
Vandenberg is a strong screen presence whose career could follow along the lines of Dave Bautista. He created Maxx for a comic book, and in fact the film was originally titled Legion Maxx when it screened at the Berlin Film Mart. The Mercenary has its flaws, but action fans will not be disappointed.
