No One Lives, 2012.
Directed by Ryûhei Kitamura.
Starring Luke Evans, Gary Grubbs, Adelaide Clemens, Lee Tergesen, Derek Magyar, America Olivo and Beau Knapp.
SYNOPSIS:
A gang of ruthless highway killers kidnap a wealthy couple traveling cross country only to shockingly discover that things are not what they seem.
Despite its kid-friendly TV shows, WWE Films have been aiming a good chunk of their movies at a more mature demographic. Earlier this year they surprised audiences with the fairly decent Dead Man Down and American Mary directors The Soska Twins are heading into production for the sequel to 2006’s See No Evil. And while that could be a blood-soaked slasher movie, it will have its work cut out to top No One Lives in terms of bloodshed.
The movie pits psycho vs. psychos as gang members kidnap a couple who are making their way through town. But when they discover a girl tied-up in the boot of their car, they find out that they are now dealing with a notorious mass murderer who is out to seek some revenge – and he is very good at what he does.
Luke Evans (soon to be playing Eric Draven in The Crow remake) is fantastic as the psychopathic man with no name and his first Apocalypse Now style shot brings about huge laughs. His cold, dark stare can cut through the screen, but he could have spoke a little louder with some of his lines. It’s not like he’s giving important plot points or anything, but his mumbling gruff voice does make a few dialogue lines a little inaudible. The rest of the cast do fine, with Derek Magyar playing a brilliant nasty bastard, but it’s Evans that steals the show. WWE fans will get a kick of out dancing fat man Brodus Clay in his minor role, but his stilted performance is more laughable than bad ass.
The central “relationship” so to speak between Evans and his surviving victim Emma (Adelaide Clemens) is a really interesting aspect of the movie, playing up to the captor/captive dynamic. He has his reasons for keeping her alive which are explored is some really nice, if slightly perfunctory, flash back scenes. Astute viewers may also notice Evan’s motivations when it comes to the female characters which could make for an interesting look into his character’s psyche. Clemens is fine in her role, but a more competent actress who can do more than stare blankey would have made this relationship better. You can see the pain in her eyes, but she doesn’t quite emote it well enough.
If there was one complaint to be made about No One Lives is that the body count for the movie is a little low. The gang would have benefited from a couple of cannon fodder members (take Hatchet III for example) just to show off how skilled and precise Evans is as a killer. We do get to see that, but he’s bumped off a large portion of the gang before you’ve even realised he’s on a spree.
But even with that slight nitpick, No One Lives is absolutely insane, hugely entertaining, and a really fun revenge flick with some great action, a good central performance and plenty of bloody kills. It could have been slightly better if the gang had more members to give its audience a higher body count and the pacing doesn’t always work, but it does a brilliant job with the cast they have and it’s entertaining enough to keep you hooked.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published August 26, 2013. Updated November 7, 2019.
