Blu-ray Review: ‘Recoil’
Stars: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Danny Trejo, Serinda Swan | Written by John Sullivan | Directed by Terry Miles
When honorable police officer Ryan Varrett’s (Austin) entire family is viciously murdered, the one-time good guy cop is forced to go rogue – breaking the laws he once swore to uphold – in his quest for justice. The primary targets for Varrett’s revenge are a murderous biker gang, a corrupt local police, and a cold-hearted crime lord named Drayke (Trejo).
Much like the original Star Trek movies, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s direct to DVD flicks follow a familiar pattern in that all the even-numbered releases are easily better than the odd. Thank god this time round we’re on a even-numbered release! Yes after the terrible Tactical Force, Austin is back with Recoil a fantastic revenge flick that recalls the best of 80s action movies and sees the former wrestler go head-to-head with movie bad-ass Danny Trejo. Talk about a great combo!
Recoil is, for the most part, like the Chuck Norris movies of old, where Norris would stroll into a situation sans weapons and kick everyone’s ass. Here Austin does the same, only with a little more ferocity than Norris ever did – there’s plenty of bone-crunching, wince-inducing action in the film, in fact this is possibly the most brutal of Austin DTV movies, beaten only by the “killers on an island” flick The Condemned.
Of course in typical action movie cliche, Austin also has a sidekick in Recoil in the shape of Serinda Swan, the sexy seductress from A&E’s Breakout Kings, who here, like the TV show she appears on, holds her own against the scenery chewing Austin and Trejo. OK, so no one is going to win awards for Recoil (unless it’s an ActionFest award) but then when a film is full of enough ass-kicking to fill two movies, nevermind one, acting chops is not the prime requisite. In short, an essential purchase for action movie aficionados.
A classic action-flick vigilante/revenge tale, Recoil is out on Blu-ray and DVD from Entertainment One on 16th April 2012
