Security

SECURITY is low on originality, medium on clashing fight scenes with guns and bombs and fire and a bit maudlin in the end when the father/daughter concept finally adds some human interest. Otherwise this 'made for action lovers' film, written by Tony Mosher and John Sullivan and directed by Alain Desrochers is a sidebar t the careers of tow fine actors – Antonio Banderas (in fine shape physically) and Ben Kingsley.

An ex-special services veteran (Antonio Banderas), down on his luck and desperate for work, takes a job as a security guard at a run-down mall in a rough area of town. He is introduced to the motley crew of security guards (Liam McIntyre, Gabriella Wright, Chad Lindberg, Jiro Wang). On his first night on the job, he opens the doors up to a distraught and desperate young girl Jamie (Katherine de la Rocha) who has escaped and fled from a hijacking of the Police motorcade that was transporting her to testify as a trial witness in a briefcase. Hot on her heels is psychopathic hijacker (Ben Kingsley), alongside his resourceful henchmen, who will stop at nothing to extract and eliminate their witness.

That is the bare bones of a story that is basically one of shooting, fire, explosions, murder, and all the other derring-do that builds a story based on the chased and the chaser. It gets repetitive but Banderas and Kingsley (and Liam McIntyre) are strong enough to hold or interest.

You have a decent cast in this movie and a decent plot to boot. Is it a B movie? Yes. Is it bad? No sir. The reason for the title of this review is Banderas really carried this movie. He took the script, strapped it to his waist and dragged it through a filmmaking minefield. There was potential galore for this thing to be bad, but they dodged every bullet. In large part thanks to Banderas. Kingsley delivered his typical ominous badguy-ness and there were some good performances by the others. But Banderas really had the weight of the whole production on his shoulders as his allies left a lot to be desired. He did such a good job of being relatable, emotional but strong, really he gave us a rich, deep character for us to root for.

The writing was actually decent and one thing that really stood out to me about this movie is the pacing. It's really good at giving us breaks when we need it and ramping up the action right when you feel like they should. The scoring was alright, but I'm really getting bored with the typical boomy action movie trumpets and drums. And the tension between the good guys and bad guys creates an engaging dynamic.

There isn't a ton of substance here, admittedly. It's a fairly straight forward action movie. If you're looking for cinema genius, exceptional cinematography, jaw dropping writing, and a thrilling, moving adventure ... I'm sorry to say you will have to look elsewhere. BUT if you want to sit back with a few beers or a bowl and enjoy a good old fashioned (I would go as far to say above average) action movie? You could do a lot worse than Security.

22 October 2017. This Die Hard (1988) wannabe strays into dangerous territory in how seriously dramatic it descends. It's tone becomes darker as contemporary action movies seem to have become in general nowadays. The movie starts with a hard-hitting road battle the likes of Clear and Present Danger (1994). However whether the entertainment value goes up with this type of action thriller genre, does it reach a delicate balance between intense suspense along with heroic exhilaration or result in more disappointment, frustration in the dramatic outcomes that occur as the storyline progresses? Security almost plays out, even if it might reflect more of a rational outcome, more like a typical horror movie, with the human assassins playing the role of monsters. Think From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Instead of using the Die Hard story formula, Security tries too hard to expand on the drama and torturous action experience, including probably the inclusion of unrealistically too many bad guys. Psychologically, the audience attachment and connection to the characters to the movie becomes fewer and fewer and a sense of frustration and disappointment increase. This movie is pretty much run of the mill action thriller that proceeds towards a rather predictable and over rather the top dramatic climax. What makes this movie a bit different is the precarious performance of the Mall boss who is both quite irritating, irascible yet somehow engaging with a good heart as well as a rather tender last few scenes. So instead of a six, this movie might be grudgingly a seven. [12/14/2018: After a second viewing, Security holds up much better and the consequential deaths don't appear to be that overly simplistic or unrealistic as first thought. The set up and the subsequent action scenes play out well. The pacing is good and the defensive actions are nicely thought up and carried through. A "solid" seven out of ten stars.] Like Die Hard, this movie apparently has repeated entertainment viewing value. The martial and lethal shooting scenes are reasonably well done, close but never actually going over the top. Even Ben Kingsley's poignant life story and later offer is quite tempting in some ways. The last few scenes of the movie are also unusually extended for most movies of this genre but in a nice, soft concluding way. Therefore, this movie is a continuing strong seven out of ten. [2/1/2019]. 7/10.

This movie was actually surprisingly good. I had little expectations to the movie, and hadn't even heard about it prior to finding it on Netflix. Despite this, I gave it a chance because Antonio Banderas do put a good movie out there every now and again.

"Security" turned out to be one of those good movies. Luckily.

The storyline was good and nicely constructed, although a bit generic. But you will be well enough entertained throughout the course of the movie.

The movie also had some good acting from an interesting and good ensemble of cast. Aside from Antonio Banderas, the movie also has some good performances from Ben Kingsley and Cung Le.

"Security" is loaded with action, and the action sequences were quite intense and also well-executed on the screen. And the abundance of action actually does soften the blow of the movie having a generic storyline.

This production by Millennium Films (the Cannon Films of the 21st century) initially has some interest because it's clearly heavily influenced by two movies. The first and most obvious is "Die Hard", but it is clear the filmmakers got some inspiration from the John Carpenter movie "Assault on Precinct 13". But while this combination gives the movie an initially interesting start, it soon becomes clear that the filmmakers had little else to jazz up this tired movie. It takes forever for it to get going, and once it does, the energy level is surprisingly flat for the most part. Even the final confrontation is a letdown. The script is extremely predictable; you'll be a few steps ahead of the characters at any point. The combination of the flat screenplay and direction probably explain why stars Antonio Banderas and Ben Kingsley both phone in their performances. Oh, there are a few unintended laughs, like how the shopping mall interior is clearly a very cheap construction on a sound stage somewhere in Bulgaria. And I admit the movie, while being extremely predictable, is not really boring. But for the most part, the movie is utterly forgettable; it'll afterwards evaporate completely from your memory within hours.