CinemaSerf

Jan 7, 2023

5.0

Now Jason Statham (and Bruce Willis) have made some dross in their time, but somehow I never quite expected Antonio Banderas to have to eke out a living doing the same kind of derivate action drama. Well here he is "Cuda" (as in Barracuda!) who is charged by mobster "Estelle" (Kate Bosworth) to lick yard-fighter "Stray" (Mojean Aria) into shape so he can help him collect her tributes - from an increasingly independently-minded bunch of cyber-sex affiliates. What follows now is an amalgam of cheap and cheerful thriller and romance as both men find their attentions drawn to young women (for completely different reasons) who are going to have a profound impact on just about everybody's lives. It's terribly over-scripted with the ending - much like the rest of it - being pretty risible and leaving the whole film resembling an assembly of cutting room out-takes from numerous other similarly high budget, low quality, productions. It's only ninety minutes, so that's a blessing - but why this is on general release anywhere is anyone's guess. I can assure you that it's not worth paying to see.