Saturday, 23 January 2021

VOD: Outside The Wire (dir: Mikael Hafstrom, 2021)

"I don't have any specialist training as a field agent."
"Don't worry - I'm special enough for the both of us."

This standard hybrid of military-action-sci-fi feels so familiar that in an earlier straight-to-video life it would have starred Van Damme or Lundgren, but of course it has a contemporary glossy Netflix/CGI sheen.  In a near/alt-future in which robots serve alongside squaddies (and are integrated into the on-screen action effectively here), an ice-cold protocol-breaking drone pilot is sent to the front line for a taste of real action and its consequences, paired up with a realistic android AI to scupper - you guessed it - a villainous Russian's nuclear attack plans.  Damson Idris and Anthony Mackie are solid performers and are paired well here, and whilst everything is delivered in a slick and well-staged manner, as a whole the film never really manages to rise above doing anything more than average or merely interesting. 


 

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