Directed by Daniel Zirilli
Written by Chad Law, Evan Law
Starring Luke Goss, Dilan Jay, Jay Mohr
Runtime 1 hour 29 minutes
Available digitally April 9

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

Hollow Point is an action film with an agenda. It opens with Hank (Luke Goss), Damian (Michael Paré), and Amanda (JuJu Chan) taking out a drug dealer. This trio, however, it is later revealed, are vigilantes who step in where cops cannot. There efforts are to stop crime that is making Los Angeles so dangerous.

But then the film features Nolan Cooray (Dilan Jay, who produced). He is a teacher who talks to his students about the moral code of the law and the boundaries of justice. It’s a preachy moment and one that of course gets unlearned as Hollow Point unfolds. 

When Nolan’s wife and young daughter take a shortcut home, they witness Trigger (Jay Mohr) killing a rival gang member, which prompts Trigger to shoot and kill them. Nolan is hopeful that the cops will put Trigger away, but the eyewitness to the crime is murdered. Nolan soon takes the law into his own hands, buying a gun at a pawn shop and bribing the owner to ignore the 10-day waiting period. (One can almost hear Homer Simpson say, “Waiting period?! But I’m mad NOW!”)

In Death Wish style, Nolan goes after Trigger. However, when the cops arrive after a shootout, Nolan ends up getting charged with carrying an illegal weapon and attempted murder. He is sent to jail but feels he has been wronged. (Although he did commit the crimes he was charged with!) It is in the big house, where Nolan meets Hank, a pro-bono lawyer who takes his case (and saves Nolan from being abused by another inmate).

Hollow Point lays every detail on thick, which blunts the film’s effectiveness. Nolan was never going to slowly process payback, which a more thoughtful film might have done. Instead, the jail scenes, which take up a chunk of the film, seem like filler. (And it’s odd that in the memory montage of his late wife and daughter, he envisions their murder—which he did not witness!) Moreover, once Nolan gets to his parole hearing, it is hard not to scream at the screen “He’s lying!” when Nolan attests that he learned his lesson and is not going to go after Trigger.

Curiously, the film does provide a moral conundrum for Nolan after release. He is quite conflicted when he discovers what Hank, Damian, and Amanda do to deliver justice. And while he joins them to punish the bad guys, he is initially reluctant to carry a gun. (Maybe he did learn something in jail?) Yet the action sequence here feels more perfunctory than intense, which is a drawback. 

Hollow Point is hardly an actor’s showcase, but Dilan Jay fails to provide much conviction with his line readings. Likewise, B-movie staple Michael Paré practically sleepwalks through the film; one wishes he had a bit more to do. At least Juju Chan, who has the action moves, provides some verve. Watching her sadistically punish a rapist in one scene provides a brief moment of satisfaction. (Although the scene of the rapist drugging his victim is excruciating). Luke Goss, who provides both brains and brawn in the operation, carries the film, and it might have been better for the film to have been told from his perspective rather than Nolan’s. 

As the villain, Jay Mohr seems to relish the chance to be sarcastic, but his penchant for homophobic jokes is tiresome. In support, Bill Duke has a few welcome scenes as a kindly prison guard.

Hollow Point is a very run-of-the-mill action/vigilante B-movie. The decent cast could have elevated the material, but the material itself could have been better. Instead, this film ends up being simply forgettable.