Dangerous Help

Bruce Von Stiers

Sometimes trying to help someone out and doing the right thing can turn deadly. That's what a guy named Frank finds out in the action-drama film, The Bouncer.

Frank is a doorman at a club in Bucharest. He's kind of laid back but you can tell there's a bit of an edge to him. The other doorman at the club is Carl. While Frank sounds like an American, Carl sound Irish. How are the two of them manning the door at a Bucharest nightclub?

Right away you get to see that edge thing I mentioned when Frank has to discourage three young men from trying to enter the club. Then a gangster looking guy shows up with a woman. Carl gives Frank the lowdown on the guy. His name is Kane, and he is into all kinds of things including human trafficking. So, in other words, Kane is into some nasty stuff.

When Kane comes out later, he is mad at his girlfriend. Apparently, he thought she'd flirted with someone in the club. He gets kind of rough with the woman and Frank acts like he wants to intercede. But Carl tells him about how the woman is just one of many from Russia that Kane has around. Next week there would probably be a different woman. And we find out that neither Carl nor Frank can go back home again. And then there is a flashback scene with Frank, his sister and their terminally ill mother. A doctor asks about funding for the mother's treatment and Frank is optimistic about getting it.

When Kane and the woman come back the next night, she is sporting a black eye. Later, in the club, there is an altercation between Kane and the woman, Silvia. Frank intervenes and then the situation changes. Frank and Silvia flee the club.

From this point the film becomes kind of a classic hunt and chase film. As Kane is wired into all kinds of bad things and people in Bucharest, it will be hard for Frank and Silvia to get out of town. The only one he can trust is Carl. But can he really trust him?

A few people betray Frank along his journey, including an ex-girlfriend who leads Kane right to Frank's apartment. And then there's an arms dealer thrown into the mix.

Somewhere in Frank's earlier life journey, he picked up some martial arts skills. These skills show up in fights that Frank has with Kane's people. Especially with Kane's driver and main bodyguard, Zander. And there is also a woman Frank encounters, and fights with, who apparently is a killer for hire.

John Ozuna plays Frank. He co-starred in The Dragon Unleashed, Cabal and starred in the horror film, Demon Hunter.

Rosmary Yaneva plays Silvia. She's appeared in the action films Enforcer, Adrenaline and Hard Home. While watching this film, I couldn't help but think that she has a passing resemblance to Angelina Jolie.

Costas Mandylor is Kane. Including current and upcoming films, he has over one hundred seventy screen credits. Those credits include Saw X, Trailblazers and Adrenaline.

Simon Phillips is Carl. He also has a lot of screen credits, including Blood Harvest and A Royal Christmas Crush. Vincent Rivera plays Zandor. Born 2 Hustle and The Stepmother 3 are a couple films that he's been in.

Tayah Kansik is the killer for hire I mentioned earlier. A couple of years ago, I reviewed an action film she was in, Scarlett Cross: Agents of D.E.A.T.H. Jackie Falcon, who's been in films such as Lockdown and The Wiseguy, plays Frank's sister, Angela. Paloma Morales plays their mom. Nicholas Turturro, who's appeared in such films as Murder Motel, plays Frank's mom's cancer doctor. Julia Alexandra Neascu is Frank's ex-girlfriend who betrays him.

The director of the film is Massimiliano Cerchi. He also co-wrote the screenplay. And he plays the arms dealer in the film. His credits as director include the films Adrenaline, Lockdown and The Penthouse. Adrian Milnes is the other screenwriter for the film. Night of the Tommyknockers and Bloodthirst are two of the films he wrote screenplays for.

The Bouncer has a lot of the elements that make up an action drama. There is an American ex-pat, who can't go home again, working and living in Bucharest. He's kind of a badass, even though he might not look like it. He lives by a set of rules, which apparently include helping a damsel in distress. But rescuing the damsel brings forth a whole set of problems that he neither wanted or needed.

I really liked The Bouncer. The fight scenes were decent and the dialog between the characters was fluid. There was a turn here and there that makes it a pretty good action-drama film.

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© 2024 Bruce E Von Stiers