‘Outlawed’ VOD Review
Stars: Adam Collins, Jessica Norris, Emmeline Kellie, Andy Calderwood, Andre Squire, Anthony Burrows, Zara Phythian, Ollie Christie, Tina Harris, Melvyn Rawlinson | Written and Directed by Adam Collins, Luke Radford
Outlawed follows former Royal Marines Commando Jake O’Neil (Adam Collins) who, following a failed mission and dismissal, struggles to adjust to civilian life. A decorated special forces operator, he tries to find himself a regular life outside of the military, but his demons get the better of him when he finds his partner in bed with another man. He begins self-destructing; abusing alcohol & drugs before eventually becoming homeless. He’s approached by childhood sweetheart Jade Roberts (Jessica Norris) who needs O’Neil’s help uncovering the truth behind her father’s mysterious death. When Jade is kidnapped, his mission is to rescue her and let nothing stand in his way.
Starring and co-directed by Royal Marine turned stuntman Adam Collins, Outlawed could best be described a something of a vanity project for Collins – he gets most of the screen time, his character is at the centre of all the action and he gets to f*ck a whole heap of attractive, very naked, women. And that’s all in a mere 90-odd minutes! And despite being sold as an action movie, Outlawed is actually anything but.
Instead of presenting action a la the films poster, it instead is 3 tales: one is a look at veterans and their search for a civilian life post-combat; the second is the conspiracy behind the death of the mayor of Nottingham(!); and the third is an action-lead rescue. But the problem is that the first plot-line is played out like something of a joke: with our hero Jake living on the streets for all of 5 minutes before being “rescued” by his old girlfriend Jade. The second story is completely out of place too: Outlawed is set in Nottingham, not the mean streets of the USA. SInce when have mayors been gunned down by crime bosses in the UK? It’s a plot point that drives the first part and the final part of the film but never really feels convincing… Maybe its because this is set in Nottingham and not London. Hell, you don’t even get shootouts like this in the Capital!
The final part of the film, the huge set piece, with Jake rescuing jade from the films “big bad” is, admittedly, the most exciting part of the movie but to get to that you have to sit through over 70 minutes of a monotonous, dull story! It’s obvious that, during the latter third of the film, Collins has the skills to be an action hero – he looks and acts like a combination of Bruce Willis in Die Hard and Channing Tatum in White House Down – but he doesn’t have the acting chops to back it up. A neither do a lot of the other cast members!
It’s a shame because its obvious this film comes from a good place; the idea of what happens to vets post-war etc. is one that deserves to be explored. But it’s not something that should be exploited in a sub-par action flick like this to be fair.
Outlawed is out on VOD in the US now from Vision Films.