Stars Zoë Bell, Vivaca A Fox, Brigitte Nielsen, Nicole Bilderback, Kristanna Loken, Tiffany Panhilason, Tim Abell, Alexis Raich and Cynthia Rothrock Directed by Christopher Olen Ray What is most likely a Direct-To-Video for sales or made for cable/satellite in the US has hit our big screens here. For a production company, The Asylum has specialised in what is commonly known as Mockbusters- B-Grade productions meant to cash in on the latest cinematic extravaganza. For example, when the studios released Snakes on A Plane, they had Snakes on A Train; The Da Vinci Code was accompanied with The Da Vinci Treasure; I Am Legend had I Am Omega; Transformers was met with Transmorphers; John Carter was challenged by Princess of Mars; Almighty Thor challenged Thor; and most recently they even got on the Hercules bandwagon with Hercules Reborn. The Asylum has also churned out those loveable creature features like Mega Python vs Gatoroid, Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark as well as the Sharknado films. As The Expendables 3 hit the big screens, The Asylum did what others have been talking about - put together a female version. They pulled in stuntwoman turned actress Zoë Bell (Death Proof, Django Unchained, Raze), Vivaca A Fox (Kill Bill, Independence Day), Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines, TV’s Burn Notice and Painkiller Jane) with Brigitte Nielsen (Red Sonja, Paparazzi) pulling villain duties and Cynthia Rothrock (numerous Hong Kong action films, China O’Brien, Honor and Glory, Sworn to Justice) as the Government contact who puts together our team of Mercenaries. Sure, it’s not as big and grand as their cinematic counterpart, but this is done on a budget after all. Given their reputation and output (see listed samples above), Mercenaries is what you’d expect it to be, and at the same time manages to pull off some decent action beats and silly one-liners with humorous effect (e.g.: “What’s the plan?” Answer: “We go PMS from hell on this place!”). The plot is simple- President’s daughter gets kidnapped, a team of specialist is put together to rescue her. Things don’t quite go to plan. Nothing really much you can ask for, except for the lack of action on Rothrock’s part. Then again, she’s part of the old-guard here, so we’ll cut her a little slack. The acting is decent enough from the main stars, with Nielsen chewing these scenery. Bell does seem to be better than the material allows, and she delivers more than one would expect from a flick like this. There is a coolness factor having some of these ladies sharing screen time - and if you’re a B-movie fan from the 80s to the 00’s, it is a joy. Director, Christopher (son of Fred) Olen Ray (2-Headed Shark Attack) does a commendable job of delivering an above average action flick (worthy enough for our cinemas) without slathering on the cheese as one would expect. There is a cohesiveness to the action and its geography that even some other directors of actual cinematic releases seem unable to master. Still, the flick is meant more as a cable action movie, the kind you might stumble upon while channel surfing. It’s decent in its own way and fairly enjoyably satisfying as a time-waster. It delivers exactly what it promises and that’s really all you need. Rating: ***/5
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