THE STORY – A gifted doctor steps down after an accomplished career, only to return to the operating room at gunpoint.
THE CAST – Michelle Yeoh, Martin Freeman, Laurie Davidson, Yuri Kolokolnikov & Joseph Mydell
THE TEAM – Roshan Sethi (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 92 Minutes
Dr. Eliza (Michelle Yeoh) needs music to operate. The fiery sounds of rock band Thin Lizzy accompany her procedures like an orchestra to a composer. Each tune helps Eliza concentrate on her disciplined practice. And due to the nature of her work, the stakes are extremely high. She navigates between life and death, a scenario she literally finds herself in when kidnapped and forced to operate in Roshan Sethi’s taut medical thriller, “The Surgeon.” A devilish game of Operation, the film uses Eliza’s expertise on human anatomy and handling of medical instruments to carve out tight action sequences and gnarly kills. The film gets off to a sluggish start, but once a few carefully guarded playing cards are revealed, the momentum skyrockets. Led by a brilliant Michelle Yeoh, “The Surgeon” scratches the itch of a pulpy channel-surfing Hollywood action thriller.
When we meet Eliza, she’s on the cusp of retirement following a celebrated surgeon career. She spends her days stitching, attending clinic appointments, and fielding phone calls from State Farm. Eliza also has a charming potential date on the horizon with Bill (Joseph Mydell), who she meets at a retiree book club. Eliza may be winding down professionally, but her mind constantly calculates the next move. She finds it difficult relating to people outside of the operating room, and feels uninspired when she’s not using her renowned hands. Eliza wants to keep her mind sharp and stimulated. As a surgeon, she has also adopted the mentality of accepting the inevitable when death comes knocking, and not fighting against nature. That mentality is soon put to the test.
In the months leading up to her retirement, Eliza was heavily sought after by a dangerous crew for a risky operation, and her refusal to grant the procedure has come back to haunt her. Abducted by a criminal gang, Eliza is forced to operate on a mystery patient (Martin Freeman) with the incentive of “He survives, you survive.” When she senses that her life will not be spared, she grabs her scalpel and puts years of experience to work, calculating a thrilling escape through a makeshift hospital ward. Comparisons will be drawn to another Thunder Road production (“John Wick”), particularly in how both protagonists use everyday tools to target their enemies’ vulnerabilities, and exercise highly creative kills along the way. Though, make no mistake, “The Surgeon” operates very much in its own vein and has a distinctive voice behind the camera.
Writer/director Roshan Sethi, whose previous works include “A Nice Indian Boy” and “7 Days,” continues to showcase impeccable range. A practicing physician himself, Sethi draws from experience when playing with this medical-driven concept, and it absolutely shows in the creative visual language. Eliza can see right through her enemies, and the film visualizes this ability by showing what lies underneath their skin. We see exactly where she would need to strike to break their wrists, shatter their ankles, and drain the fluid from their brains. “That’s not snot, that’s your brain fluid,” she shares with an amusingly deadpan delivery. Sethi uses the surgical profession to come up with some truly imaginative kills and set pieces, prioritizing stylized violence throughout.
Working with a filmmaker who appreciates her talent and recognizes the power of a killer closeup, Michelle Yeoh brings incredible precision to the role of Eliza. She’s a compelling character in her exacting approaches to both healing and hurting, and Yeoh’s unwavering energy keeps you on your toes. She strategically underestimates herself in front of the kidnappers, which creates a bubbling tension underneath her cool and collected demeanor. Knowing the character’s surgical capabilities, it’s a thrill to discern when and how she’ll reveal all the tricks up her sleeve. And it’s a treat to watch Eliza turn the operating tables on her enemies; with killer precision, she knows exactly which parts of the body to strike. The sonic language intensifies these attacks, from excellent cherry-picked song choices to effective sound design.
Sethi prioritizes pure entertainment over the plot, which unfolds quite generically, especially the crime boss elements. Nevertheless, the film makes time to intersperse moments of backstory to fill in the central “operation kidnapping” concept. Clever cuts between past and present excel at providing context without relying too heavily on exposition. And the cuts are usually rewarding insights about Eliza. Her introduction to Freeman’s character, months before the kidnapping, stands out as an amusing reflection of her priorities. Her response to learning that he’s a powerful guy is, “So what?”. She could not care less who he supposedly is, and it’s a throughline that the film unexpectedly flips. As a doctor, she has a responsibility to her patients. She’s stitched all of their names into her blankets. This dynamic is smartly tested when she’s faced with a crucial decision about Freeman’s fate in their final scenes together.
Through a creative use of genre tropes and satisfying payoffs, “The Surgeon” gets the action thriller job done. It’s a deliciously stylized ride, and the stakes are high. The entertainment-over-story approach comes at a cost with forgettable side characters, but Yeoh at the center makes for a consistently entertaining time at the movies. You feel immediately invested in her character and all the competing qualities that drive her to hold onto her surgical position for as long as possible. She’s a badass final girl, and considering the film’s conclusion, this may not be the last we see of “The Surgeon.”
