Directed by George Gallo
Written by George Gallo and Samuel Bartlett
Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes
In select theaters April 16th and OnDemand and digital April 20th

by Matt McCafferty, Staff Writer

Writer and director George Gallo is most well known as the writer for the 1988 cult classic Midnight Run and Bad Boys (story credit). Even though he has an additional handful of titles to his name (23 writing credits according to ImDB), those couple of successes were enough to get me interested in his latest action crime thriller, Vanquish. 

I don’t hold up Midnight Run or the Bad Boys franchise as highly as some do, but I do enjoy them for being the fun action buddy movies that they set out to be. It’s safe to say that Gallo has a knack for writing these kinds of action comedies. It’s also safe to say that Vanquish is certainly not that type of movie. Based on what I saw in the trailer, I wasn’t expecting this to be anything like Midnight Run or Bad Boys. But I did expect Vanquish to be of a much better quality with Gallo at the helm and Morgan Freeman in the lead.

The film takes place all in one night. Victoria (Ruby Rose) is the caretaker of a retired hero cop, Damon Hickey (Morgan Freeman). Caught in a bind with a team of dirty cops, Damon blackmails Victoria to do his bidding for the night by holding her young daughter hostage. Victoria must make five money pick-ups across the city in order to get her daughter back. Not only does Damon trust Victoria to get the job done in order to save her daughter, but he also knows that her background as a former Russian drug courier makes her the right person for the job.  

It’s not the plot that is necessarily the problem for this film. It’s straightforward for sure, but the concept is intriguing enough that it should be enough to fuel a decent action movie. There were some editing choices that didn’t work for me that I’ll get to in a bit, but the real problem is the lack of character development. Never for a moment did I feel an actual sense of urgency stemming from Victoria when she went out on these money-runs for Damon. The fact that her daughter is being held captive is glossed over as if this is just something that happens. You know, no big deal. And that’s pretty much how Victoria treats it. Other than a few lackluster “give my daughter back” pleas, she never seems all that concerned about her daughter. And when you find out where her daughter is being held, it’s pretty laughable. 

It’s pretty evident that Rose’s character functions solely to move the story forward towards the next fight/chase scene with very little attention given to what she thinks or feels. It’s like we are watching a first draft of the script play out. The bones of the story are there, but we are missing all of the emotional pieces that would allow us to care about Victoria and her daughter. This major flaw makes it nearly impossible for Vanquish to be anything but a substandard action movie. That’s not to say that all action movies need well-developed characters or deep emotional meanings. Great action sequences are usually enough to make these types of movies worthwhile in some way. But we don’t get great action sequences here either. And when there are no other redeeming qualities in the film to distract us from the flaws of its characters, it’s a glaring fault that’s too hard to ignore.  

I would like to see Ruby Rose take on a lead role in an action movie with more substance. We’ve already seen her in some supporting roles in a few of the biggest action franchises, such as John Wick: Chapter 2, xXx: Return of Xander Cage and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Hopefully she finds something of her own one of these days. Something much better than Vanquish. 

As far as the look and feel of the movie, it’s pretty strange. The editing techniques are a complete distraction, full of all kinds of dissolves and fade-to-black transitions. Many of these odd cuts take place right in the middle of some of the fast-paced motorcycle chase scenes that dominate most of the film. I’m not really sure what they were going for with this style, but it all comes off looking a bit amateurish.   

It felt like nobody was truly bought into the idea of making this film. Even Morgan Freeman sleepwalks through the kind of role that he has played a thousand times. The further you get into the movie, the more it feels like everybody involved was just going through the motions to get through this thing. If you are a fan of Ruby Rose, you might find some enjoyment here and there. Otherwise, Vanquish doesn’t offer much else to make it worth your time.