03rd Mar2021

‘Cosmic Sin’ DVD Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Bruce Willis, Frank Grillo, Brandon Thomas Lee, Corey Large, C.J. Perry, Perrey Reeves, Lochlyn Munro, Costas Mandylor, Eva De Dominici, Adelaide Kane, Sarah May Sommers, Trevor Gretzky | Written by Edward Drake, Corey Large | Directed by Edward Drake

Bruce Willis goes sci-fi. Again. Yes, as if one sci-fi a year isn’t enough for Willis (though whose he kidding, his latter sci-fi flicks will never measure up to Armageddon?!), he’s back in Cosmic Sin, playing disgraced soldier James Ford who’s “tasked” with leading a team of seven soldiers to help stop an alien invasion.

Set in 2524, Cosmic Sin sees a first contact meeting between a human colony and an alien race go disastrously, catastrophically, wrong – leading to the chance of an interstellar war between humans and aliens. Willis’ soldier Ford is asked by Frank Grillo’s General Ryle (Frank Grillo) to lead a precautionary pre-emptive strike on the aliens before they wipe out humankind for good.

Penned by Willis’ co-star Corey Large, who plays Ford’s former team mate and ONLY friend in the galaxy, Cosmic Sin looked – on paper – like a refreshing change of pace for Willis, who has been sleepwalking through his direct to DVD roles of late. There’s a glimmer of hope that a different genre, a different kind of story, would elicit a decent performance from Willis – perhaps bring a spark to his performance a la Breach. But sadly that’s not the case. Yet again Willis phones in his performance, being outshone by Frank Grillo in what – for Grillo – is an extended cameo.

The films itself is actually well shot and really looks the part. Drake obviously has an eye for the genre – the use of neon lighting and dramatic shadows really giving Cosmic Sin a remarkably futuristic look. Especially for a film that, early doors, is little more than people running round a warehouse and then theorising about, and reflecting on, what’s about to happened on their mission. Speaking of which… What the hell is with Willis’ team being literally shot out into space. Not in a spaceship or some other kind of transport but being suited up a blasted into space IN AN ORBITAL CANNON(!) crash-landing in the woods on a distant planet.

And that leads to the second half of Cosmic Sin, as Costas Mandylor’s Marcus, Adelaide Kane’s Fiona and Brandon Thomas Lee’s Braxton find themselves in the woods, teamed up with the local civilians and C.J Perry’s wise-cracking mercenary Sol Cantos (in a complete 180-degree change from her WWE persona Lana) trying to complete there mission – get a bomb on board an alien ship and send it back to the alien homeworld to blow it all to hell. Same old, same old then. And the same old Willis, whose disgraced soldier, at least in terms of Willis’ performance, is a retread of his battle-hardened General Joe Colton role from 2013’s G.I. Joe Retaliation. Only in space.

Cosmic Sin is the second of four announced collaborations between Edward Drake, Corey Large and Bruce Willis, and as such continues the template laid out in Breach (aka Anti-Life); a template that pretty much every recent Willis film follows: Willis appears in the film, doesn’t give very much in terms of performance or “a sh*t” and leaves the film to be carried by the rest of the cast. In this case Frank Grillo, Entourage’s Perrey Reeves AND C.J Perry as Sol Cantos (now that was surprise) – who outshine, out act and out-class Willis within literal minutes of opening their mouths and reciting Large and Drake’s script. Though the films TRUE surprise? Costas Mandylor’s bizarre accent choice… which is seemingly channeling Jason Statham!

If you’ve seen Breach you’ll know what to expect from this and as such YMMV… Cosmic Sin is available on DVD and Digital now.

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