I Am Vengeance: Retaliation movie review

Despite its breakneck pace and near constant action sequences, I Am Vengeance: Retaliation still manages to be a snoozer.

This is the sequel to the 2018 film I Am Vengeance so presumably there’s some audience for this one.

Former WWE sports entertainer Stu Bennett returns as John Gold to bring down Teague (Vinnie Jones), the man who killed his former squad.

Gold has partnered with a squad of semi-competent special agents to bring in Teague, but the real threat is from Jen Quaid (Katrina Durden), who’s looking for payback against Teague for killing her father.

Teague has his own crew including his fiancé (Jessica Jane Stafford, Dragon Kingdom) and right hand man Renner (Bentley Kelu) determined to safely rescue him.

And that’s it for the script. The film follows a very slow and prolonged game of cat and mouse with neither side proving very adept at accomplishing their goal.

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Director/Writer Ross Boyask clearly didn’t have much of a budget to work with as the whole movie seems to take place in a rented out warehouse by an airfield. Large segments of the film take place in isolated areas like junkyards or abandoned buildings.

What really hurts the film is Boyask gives everyone of these special force agents and henchman Stormtrooper cadet aiming skills. That means every firefighter is ridiculously incompetent no matter if a target is mere steps away.

While the shootouts are terrible, the hand to hand combat scenes are consistently excellent. Bennett is the star of the film, but Durden and Phoebe Robinson Galvin have incredibly hard hitting and physical fight scenes with Kelu and Laurent Planchel.

There’s so many fight scenes it starts to feel somewhat repetitive and Boyask isn’t able to elevate the stakes from one fight to the next so it’s more a matter of changing locations instead of significance.

The script is underwhelming, which might explain the performers inability to do much with it. Jones is the only actor able to add any depth to his character despite Teague’s inconsistent actions throughout the film.

For audiences strictly looking for some stellar fight scenes I Am Vengeance: Retaliation might be worth a watch. Otherwise you can safely skip this one.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Saban Films