When renowned 'blackhat terrorist' The Ghost is detected after pulling off a job in Thailand, a shady organization led by a hardened operator (Katee Sackhoff) mobilizes its only asset in the region to stop them. That asset turns is Lucas Reyes (Josh Hartnett), a burnt agent who was cut off because he had too much of a conscience; He spends his days getting drunk at a Thai dive bar and avoiding hit men. Despite his misgivings, the chance of getting his old life back is too good to pass up.
So Reyes boards the same flight to Los Angeles The Ghost is on, with the mandate to bring them back alive at any cost. The bad news is that the news have leaked that the ghost is on the flight - along with a sizeable bounty for their death. And that, basically, is the whole movie; Reyes duking it out against a colourful array of assassins while at first trying to figure out who the ghost is (he only knows that they have a gunshot wound), and then protect them.
I do wonder if it's intended to be a John-Wick-like world where every other person is a world-class assassin and they all found out about the job while on the flight, or if all these assassins managed to get to Thailand in time to board the flight in the scant hours since news of the Ghost got out. Yes, I know I'm overthinking it, especially since the script (by Brooks McLaren and D. J. Cotrona) is almost showboatingly dumb. Wait until you find out what the McGuffin is; Precious little makes any sense in hindsight.
This gleefully moronic tone renders all the time the film spends on its conspiracy elements somewhat insulting, but it pays off with character moments and action beats that at least try, and often achieve, low-key inspired lunacy. Sure, a lot is lifted almost wholesale from Bullet Train, and individual elements - like Reyes hallucinating fireworks instead of blood while tripping balls in a climactic big brawl - mirror other movies (in this case, Harley Quinn substituting violence with flower petals in Suicide Squad); But hey, most of the comedy actually works.
It also includes a lot of oddball details that give the movie some personality and a whole lot of batshit energy. I love, for example, that it finds an excuse to put three Chinese martial artists straight out of a wuxia movie - they're led by JuJu Chan, and she finds time to use a deadly hairpin and everything. The film also managed to get the great Marco Zaror, who doesn't get nearly enough to do but at least manages to deploy some of the effortless charm he showed he had in spades in Mandrill, and breaks the ice with Reyes by showing him off his dance moves.
The action is OK. Director James Madigan is hampered by a non-martial artist star, which drags down (for example) the big fight with Zaror. The editing skews a little too short, and the cameras are pulled a little too close to the action, but the choreographies are simple enough and the blocking is decent, so it's not too bad. The film goes for a sort of Jackie-Chan style prop comedy using everything an airplane can offer - those pivoting arm rests, seatbelts, the metal drawers the cabin crew stores everything in - they all have their time to shine... modestly. Aside from an inspired use of an overhead baggage partition, there's nothing hugely inventive.
All the performances are very game, especially Hartnett - his physicality is good, and while he may not have the moves, his deranged, committed performance is central to much of the film's joyful madness. The special effects are iffy - in that sense, the film's low budget shines through early and often. All the CGI blood fits the cartoony nature of the action well, but other than that... well, it looks terrible.
No matter; The blood splatters may be inconsistent. the action may not be all that thrilling, but it is funny, it's just crazy enough, and it mostly avoids all the bloat that, say, David Leitch tends to attach to his efforts. It probably won't stick around anyone's thoughts for long but, while it lasts, it's a good time.
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