https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmende ... in-week-2/Speaking of less money for a similar impact, I caught the DTV actioner Section 8 over the weekend. Penned by Chad Law and directed by Christian Sesma, the film stars Ryan Kwanten (from Patrick Hughes’ terrific Red Hill) as a marine sent to prison for avenging his murdered family only to be sprung by a secret government agency in exchange for killing for Uncle Sam. If this sounds like Asylum's The Gray Man, wait until you hear that he eventually earns the wrath of his new bosses and must evade an unhinged, trigger-happy assassin (Scott Adkins having a blast in an ‘oops, all berries’ role) and take down his employers. Dermot Mulroney, Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke fill out the fringes,.
The film is at least as entertaining as (and a lot less chaotic than) the Ryan Gosling/Chris Evans actioner. The over/under $3 million Section 8 looked unusually polished, colorful and boasting a variety of locations along with the aforementioned actors not phoning it in. Not only is it good, well-structured, action-packed fun on a 'direct-to-video' curve, but it looks and plays like something I would have happily seen and enjoyed in a theater on a Saturday afternoon in my teens. When Section 8 eventually pops up on Netflix, it’ll make an ironic double-bill with the Russo’ franchise-intended action spectacular. Once again, you can spend $200 million to approximate a Hollywood blockbuster badly or $5-$20 million (or even $115 million for an Adam Project) to fill a genuine vacuum.