THE STORY – In 1990s New York, a vigilante priest violently dispatches mob gangs, waging a one-man war on the city’s underworld.
THE CAST – Kiefer Sutherland, Ever Anderson, Al Pacino
THE TEAM – Barthélémy Grossmann (Director), Luc Besson (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 106 Minutes
Directed by Barthélémy Grossmann and written by Luc Besson, this violent shoot-‘em-up promises outrageous over-the-top fun. It’s undeniably silly, and it just about delivers, even if it’s never quite as good as it should have been. Set in 1990’s New York, the film stars Kiefer Sutherland as Father Joe, a grizzled, gun-toting priest, who has taken it upon himself to clean up the city’s underworld, smashing up drug labs and taking out crime gangs. Occasionally, he will come face-to-face with a mob boss, whereupon he will inject them with a deadly toxin and force them to attend his weekly church service in order to receive the antidote. The latest mob boss on the receiving end of Father Joe’s jab-to-the-neck treatment is Giuseppe (Al Pacino), who’s already pretty mad at the vigilante priest for taking out a squad of his goons in the opening scene. Meanwhile, events take a turn for Joe when he saves teenage runaway Felicity (Ever Anderson) from an overdose, and she decides to stick around.
Sutherland takes the role extremely seriously, giving Father Joe the full growly-voiced treatment, as befits a former Special Ops soldier. Especially one with his history, falling in love with a Vietnamese woman with whom he had a teenage daughter. When she died of an overdose, the mother followed soon after, dying of a broken heart and leaving Joe with his own. Fans of the TV show 24 will be delighted to know that Joe takes a page out of Jack Bauer’s playbook and regularly shoots people in the leg (surely a shout-out, of sorts). Pacino, by contrast is a little disappointing. If ever there was a movie for him to fully indulge his “Shouty Al” tendencies, surely this was it? Instead, he’s oddly soft spoken and low-key throughout, as if trying not to draw attention to himself. Normally, Pacino gives himself at least one self-indulgent line reading, and he musters up a bit of one here, but it’s instantly forgettable. As for Anderson, she’s arguably miscast. Her gawky energy doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the film, and her dialogue delivery can best be described as “eager”. Incidentally, if she looks familiar, that’s because she’s the daughter of action star Mila Jovovich and director Paul W.S. Anderson.
The rest of the supporting cast aren’t really given enough to do to make much of an impression, but there’s a nice turn from Chris Tardio as Marco, Father Joe’s right-hand man, who despite taking a vow of silence, speaks volumes with his physical presence. Similarly, Erik Palladino is good sleazy value as Doctor Massimo, whose nefarious scheme to sell children’s body parts evokes righteous fury in Father Joe. The oddest addition to the cast is Fred Melamed, who has a thankless role as an official that doesn’t make good use of his rightly celebrated character actor skills.
On the plus side, there’s a terrific close-quarters fight scene set in an elevator, that’s almost as good as the ones in the Bourne movies or “Captain America: Winter Soldier.” If every fight scene had that level of invention and enjoyment, this would have been a lot more fun. As it is, the rest of the scenes are serviceable, but the relentless shoot-out scenes are very repetitive and eventually get tiring. On a similar note, the dialogue feels like a wasted opportunity. Occasionally, there is a promising diversion, such as a discussion between Pacino and Sutherland that equates religion to drugs, but this isn’t explored in any depth. Elsewhere, there are baffling omissions – for example, much is made of a brief flashback to the woman playing Joe’s dead wife, suggesting we’ll get a longer, more detailed scene later where she actually speaks, but that never happens.
On a technical level, cinematographer Colin Wandersman does a good job of recreating a 90’s action movie aesthetic, aided by Hughes Tissandier’s production design, which produces some decent sets on what was a presumably a very low budget. On top of that, Lucas Fabiani’s editing keep the action sequences pacey, and clean in terms of who is hitting who at any given time, something that so many similar action films get wrong. However, the score by composer Matteo Locasciulli is almost hilariously overblown, blaring out sugary, sentimental overtures to really hammer home the supposedly emotional moments. It’s just as bombastic during the fight scenes, ultimately serving as a distraction rather than an accompaniment. In fairness, there are a couple of nice ideas, such as the fact that Joe has a veritable army of former altar boys are available for back-up when the shooting starts. There are some little touches as well, such as the Italian mobsters crossing themselves with holy water in Father Joe’s church, shortly before unleashing hell in the form of violent gunfire.
On balance, this is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s by no means unwatchable, and when it’s firing on all cylinders (in the lift scene, for example), it’s a lot of fun. It’s just a shame that level of enjoyment and invention isn’t sustained throughout the whole film. If Besson, Grossman and arguably Pacino had just leaned into the silliness a little bit more, this could have been something special. As it is, it will probably end up being a cult movie anyway, just not for the right reasons.
