Redemption Day, 2021.
Directed by Hicham Hajji.
Starring Gary Dourdan, Serinda Swan, Andy García, Brice Bexter, Ernie Hudson, Martin Donovan, Robert Knepper, and Samy Naceri.
SYNOPSIS:
Having just returned home, decorated U.S. Marine Captain Brad Paxton’s (Gary Dourdan) wife, Kate, is kidnapped by a terrorist group while working in Morocco. He is forced back into action for a daring and deadly operation to save the woman he loves.
A marginalized voice such as Hicham Hajji (it’s also his first time in the director chair) helming an action drama centered on Middle Eastern terrorists and oil lobbying seems like the right idea to put a fresh perspective on flat-out tired and offensive storytelling, but Redemption Day turns out to be more than fine joining the bottom tier ranks of such drivel.
The film opens with what is, on nothing more than a technical level (and even that is not necessarily much of a compliment considering there’s actually not much going on in the scene), a tracking shot of skilled US Marine Brad Paxton (Gary Dourdan who might benefit more in the leading role if this action movie actually had one or two more exciting set pieces) walking through a military outpost, receiving some orders, who then marches to a convoy before departing on the roads as opening credits play over the drive. There is also an ambush that is cut short as fragments of the sequence play out over the rest of the movie, piecing together certain elements of redemption.
Following this mission, Brad is brought back home where he decides he wants to be a family man for a while, now with his wife Kate (Serinda Swan) set to be absent making an archaeological discovery surrounding some hidden ruins along the Algeria-Morocco border. Needless to say, some terrorists pull off a kidnapping which springs Brad into a rescue mission that doesn’t actually start until well into the third act. In the meantime, Redemption Day is basking in the same jingoistic clichés as most other American military stories while simultaneously rendering every moment attempting to assess the turmoil between Algeria and Morocco as hollow. If that’s not going on, there are people back in America inside boardroom meetings planning what to do about the hostage situation or snippets of Ernie Hudson’s grandfather character taking care of the kids.
Then Redemption Day goes one step further into its dizzying array of tropes with the reveal that two people are taken hostage; Kate is pregnant. At this point, any hope that the movie is going to do anything remotely interesting has been abandoned (not that I should have expected it to anyway given it’s the first movie of a new January and how second-rate everything appeared to be), so all that’s left is taking in the boring plotting and the rescue itself. Of course, it’s all predictable and the payoff lands with about as much emotion as everything else in the movie, which is to say none.
Unsurprisingly, that burst of action doesn’t provide much adrenaline either, coming across as an outdated third-person shooter game that plays slower than molasses. For some, the film’s casual and seemingly random acts of brutality against women might also be a dealbreaker, and it’s hard to blame them given it’s just a jolt of shock value. Maybe Hicham Hajji will be allowed to take a crack at making another film one day, in which he will be trying to redeem himself for this waste of 90 minutes. It’s as if someone came with the intention to make a cheesy VOD action flick (which is absolutely fine considering there’s always going to be a market for that and those movies obviously can be fun) but forgot the fun parts in favor of a serious bore.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
