Not even dramamine could keep your head from spinning if you’ve followed Mickey Rourke’s career. For us old folks, we once thought of him as among the best and brightest of his generation- films like Diner, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Body Heat, Angel Heart, and Barfly were all within his first ten years.
In the new film Take Back, Rourke is in it for the paycheck. His grotesque features and dead-eyed line readings make us long for that guy who was so charismatic that it actually took botched plastic surgeries to take him down.
But this isn’t his movie. This is a movie that has pulled off something rare in Hollywood: it has a woman as its lead character in an action film. A 46 year-old woman. An African-American woman!
Her name is Gillian White and she kicks some serious ass in this actioner. She and real-life husband Michael Jai White play a married couple who go against some seriously mean bad guys.
The film begins with a fast-paced sequence setting up the premise that a sex trafficking ring kidnaps young women and sells them. The leader of the ring is Mickey Rourke and, except for loving his little dog, he is one nasty dude.
Cut to Zara and Brian (White and White) working on martial arts moves in the dojo. He’s the instructor but she, as his student, can totally hold her own.
It doesn’t take long before Zara, an attorney, randomly finds herself witnessing a domestic abuse situation that’s about to get deadly. Quickly disarming the bad guy and kicking his ass, she finds herself something of a YouTube celebrity, closed circuit footage of her moves has racked up a million views.
One of those viewers is Rourke, and seeing Zara fills him with rage- he orders her death.
And here I’ll stop with the plot points. There is a reason that Rourke wants her dead, and there is a connection that will be revealed in time.
The whole movie is basically a slow-roll build up to a final confrontation. I never completely lost interest during the 90 minute flick, but the little voice in my head kept saying, “okay, enough with the set up, let’s get to the point.” Also, the dialogue by Zach Zerries is a bit cliche and clumsy at times.
But I liked the cast and the story idea. And Gillian White is the new action hero in my book. Her fight sequences were a thrill to watch.
As for ol’ Mickey. He definitely plays the dirtbag character believably. But I miss the guy who made me his biggest fan way back in 1982.
Take Back is in select theatres and available on Amazon Prime and these Streaming Services
2 out of 4 stars | Reviewed by Kyle Osborne | 90 Minutes | NR
