Affinity

If you are familliar with Scott Adkins, you will certainly recognize Marko Zaror wich opposed him as the antagonist in multiple movies including the awesome Undisputed 3 but more recently Diablo (wich was fairly enjoyable).

Now Marko is going for lead. While he was really charismatic as "Dolor" (with limited screen time) and had a great creep/menacing vibe in Diablo, sadly this time around he pretty much is a charisma vaccum. He plays an ex soldier with PTSD, a trope often use as a start to an action movie, but what is suppose to be sadness and trauma just show up as "empty and hollow".

Speaking of story, the movie really goes for the bare minimum. You have a post-intro that is only there to have an action sequence and justify a shortcut for later in the movie, but then the pace slow down considerably once the woman show up at his door. And while its important to establish characters, i was pretty bored, probably because both Marko and Jane Mirro had barely any charisma. Thanksfully the third act is a lot more action packed and entertaining.

Among the supporting cast you got Louis Mandylor wich has become a stable in these movies. He is the better actor here and does throw down a bit. That said i was more impressed by Brooke Ence, she has some nice action scenes and she really is believable as a tough lady. Hollywood often choose to go with mainstream actresses because of star power and acting chops but this lady look the part and her acting was pretty decent. I would like to see more of her. If you enjoy Boyka you may also recognize one of the vilains who is well known for stunt work and fight choreographies, Brahim Chab.

Now when it comes to my enjoyement of this movie, i would say it was very moderate. The thing is its a very generic action movie with a very weak plot and characters that lack charisma, but very decent hand to hand combat. It would had worked better as a mini-series or something like that, with more plot developpement and more charismatic actors. The fight choreographies are pretty good, but the sound effects, camera work, the music (the cinematography) could had been a lot better to elevate them.

The feeling i had was that with a limited budget they tried to simply emulate a typical VOD Scott Adkins movie, while being inspired by John Wick and others "fight waves of masked bad guys" movies from Asia.

Maybe its because i seen tons of movies like this one that it does not have the same impact anymore. Overall its just ...alright. I can't go higher than a 5 out of 10.

Without ever having heard about this 2025 action thriller titled "Affinity", from director Brandon Slagle, as I stumbled upon it by random chance, I still opted to watch it since it was a movie that I hadn't already seen. I virtually had no idea what I was in for here, so I suppose director Brandon Slagle had every opportunity to entertain and impress me.

It is a little bit amazing that writers Gina Aguad, Christopher M. Don, Liam O'Neil, Marko Zaror and Daniel Zirilli collectively could muster only to put together such a formulaic and generic script as they did. I guess that saying with too many cooks spoil the broth saying has some truth to it. Sure, the narrative was watchable, but it was by no means a stellar viewing experience, and in all honesty then "Affinity" was a pretty run-of-the-mill action thriller, as if the writers were going page by page through the 'How To Write An Action Thriller For Dummies' handbook.

Of the entire cast ensemble in the movie, I was only familiar with Marko Zaror and Louis Mandylor. The acting performances were fair enough, but hardly anything noteworthy or memorable.

The movie does have a fair amount of action sequences, which definitely helps to keep the movie afloat and watchable.

While "Affinity" is a watchable enough movie for what it was, keep in mind that it is a rather generic action thriller, and most definitely not a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Brandon Slagle's 2025 movie "Affinity" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.

I mean I was entertained. This movie is so random. The DNA scientist thing adds a dimension of sorts, is really funny. I'm giving it a 10/10 because I want you to watch it, but it realistically deserves a 2/10. Might become a very reviewable space ice kind of movie. It's entertaining, like Miami connection. It makes little sense, maybe none at all. But watch it!

This movie has no coloring of any kind really. This is stripped down to the essentials of a story, and it is good! There are so many moves that are total garbage that get high numbers when THIS is what they should be after. It is NOT great, but it is very good. I wish that more movies that came out were like this. Take The Brutalist for example. Yes, the acting was amazing, but the story is about the dumbest and most damaging form of architecture that humans have ever come up with. Even the new Frankenstein was better than that movie! Writers need to find roots again. Just look at the Marvel garbage. IRON MAN KILLED CAP!! If they had held to the real storyline, they could have spun that off into so many movies and series, but Civil War was a bastardization of what the comic was. So stupid. The movie and the idea. This movie is where the soul of film making lives.

It's good to see Marko Zaror finally star in his own movie. He's been a great supporting actor in many great action films alongside some great action heroes (John Wick, The Killer's Game, Diablo etc).

Sure this was a B film, but nevertheless, the action was great (definitely had the John Wick action vibe to it) and the Thai setting was gorgeous, as were some of the set pieces especially in the third act. Even the soundtrack and score were on point.

Yes the story was a little overcooked - I wish I had a beautiful damsel in distress show up at my doorstep, but the action, great pacing and perfectly short runtime made this movie a fully watchable fun and entertaining popcorn flick.

It was also great to see Mr. Mandylor and his amazing knife-fighting skills, and I can't complain about the beautiful Jane Mirro as Athena in her second ever movie. Hopefully we'll see more of her.

A very enjoyable action B-film worth the watch, and a well deserving 7/10 from me.