{"id":7595,"date":"2019-07-12T07:34:14","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T11:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7595"},"modified":"2019-07-12T15:50:51","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T19:50:51","slug":"review-point-blank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7595","title":{"rendered":"Review: POINT BLANK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite the presence of two popular MCU stars, Marcia Gay Harden proves to be the most potent player in this crime actioner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Don\u2019t confuse Netflix\u2019 new thriller with John Boorman\u2019s 1967 film of the same name. That movie, starring Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, and Keenan Wynn is a bonafide classic. What\u2019s even more confusing is that the Netflix \u201cPoint Blank\u201d is, in fact, a remake of a 2010 French film also named \u201cPoint Blank (\u00c0 bout portant).\u201d And because titles can\u2019t be copyrighted, I suppose, \u201cMayhem\u201d and \u201cEverly\u201d director Joe Lynch and his producers decided to keep the familiar name in delivering a generic crime action movie saved only by a vicious turn from Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden.

When a criminal named Abe (Frank Grillo) is shot and hit by a car, he\u2019s taken to a hospital where he\u2019s cared for by Paul (Anthony Mackie), a nurse with a wife at home expecting their first child any minute. Abe\u2019s brother Mateo (Christian Cooke) decides to kidnap Paul\u2019s wife and force Paul to secret Abe out of the hospital. And when Paul manages to help Abe escape, under the noses of the police, the chase is on. Abe and Paul become unwitting partners, as they traverse the city.

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Anthony Mackie as Paul and Frank Grillo as Abe in POINT BLANK<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In pursuit are two cops played by Harden and \u201cHouse of Cards\u201d regular Boris McGiver. Harden\u2019s officer has an ax to grind and is determined to stop at nothing to bring Abe to justice, even if that means taking Paul down in the process. Without spoiling the film\u2019s big twist, it\u2019s enough to say that Harden plays a key role here. Her performance is impressive, especially given the televisual nature of this smallish production.

Frank Grillo, whose WarParty Films production company produced the film, is a great screen presence. The actor has risen since his memorable appearances in the MCU and his impactful work in the \u201cPurge\u201d sequels. \u201cPoint Blank\u201d isn\u2019t the best example of what he can do. As Abe, Grillo is required to be injured for most of the movie. This blunts his best asset\u2014his physicality. Most of the time, he\u2019s getting beat down and relies on Paul to shoot him up with painkillers. It\u2019s almost like \u201cCrank\u201d but at a much lower voltage.

Still, Mackie is very likable as the nurse thrown into the situation to save his wife. But his charisma is also hampered because he too is beaten down and abused for the bulk of the running time. It\u2019s frustrating to see an actor, who has just been given Captain America\u2019s shield in \u201cEndgame,\u201d sit on his hands and watch as Grillo dukes it out. In one scene, Mackie\u2019s Paul has trouble finding something to hit an attacker who is pummeling Grillo\u2019s Abe in an active cash wash. After some stops and starts, Paul finally uses a broom or something to clock the guy. Of course, by that time, Abe is beaten and bloodied. The thought process that went into that whole sequence was way off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grillo is banged up throughout the film, which proves to be frustrating.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But when Harden is on screen the movie takes on a menacing edge. She\u2019s ruthless and every match for the injured Grillo. I wanted to see more of her instead of frustrating clashes with various tough guys.

\u201cPoint Blank\u201d is a garden-variety action thriller that Netflix is able to crank out and keep the subscriber base in new content. As I said in a Daily Dose posting at the end of last year, Netflix\u2019 unique combination of content together with cinematic flourishes makes it the best innovator in the marketplace. While they may produce several derivative productions every year, the streaming giant is able aside funds for more higher quality films, like last year\u2019s cinematic masterpiece \u201cRoma.\u201d This means that while \u201cPoint Blank\u201d isn\u2019t great, it\u2019s necessary.

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Netflix’ “Point Blank” isn’t the remake you think it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1631,232,1634,1632,1633],"class_list":["post-7595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-anthony-mackie","tag-frank-grillo","tag-joe-lynch","tag-marcia-gay-harden","tag-point-blank","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7595"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7601,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7595\/revisions\/7601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}