Nerdly » ‘The Enforcer’ Review

23rd Dec2022

‘The Enforcer’ Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Antonio Banderas, Kate Bosworth, Mojean Aria, Alexis Ren, Zolee Griggs, Natalie Burn, 2 Chainz, Mark Rhino Smith, Luke Bouchier, Aaron Cohen | Written by W. Peter Iliff | Directed by Richard Hughes

Not to be confused with the Clint Eastwood Enforcer (1976) or the Humphrey Bogart Enforcer (1951), this cheap and cheerful crime thriller stars Antonio Banderas as a strong-arm man who turns against his employers. As such, it’s entirely watchable and made with a degree of style, but it’s also predictably generic and occasionally laughable in its simplicity.

The Enforcer opens with one of those prologue sequences that immediately gives away the ending, as Banderas’ Cuda (short for Barracuda) reflects on what brought him to his current blood-soaked state. The rest of the story is then told in flashback, with Cuda taking new enforcer Stray (Mojean Aria, who looks a bit like Keanu off EastEnders) under his wing, while working for slinky Miami mob boss Estelle (Kate Bosworth, in a black vamp wig with an outrageous wardrobe to match).

Meanwhile, frustrated by his inability to reconnect with his own 15 year old daughter after a stint in jail, Cuda takes another stray under his wing, rescuing homeless 15 year old Billie (Zolee Griggs) from a shoplifting charge and paying for her to stay in a motel room so she can straighten herself out. However, when Billie is kidnapped and sex trafficked, Cuda suspects Estelle may be involved, so he sets out to do something about it, with extreme prejudice.

Banderas has always been an immensely charismatic lead and he makes a solid, likeable lead here, adding gravitas to even the cheesiest dialogue. Aria has his fair share of charisma too, while it’s fun to see Bosworth vamping it up in support, even if the script doesn’t really do her character justice – there’s an entire relationship dynamic that’s essentially reduced to a montage sequence, for example.

Thematically, The Enforcer has a somewhat laughable moral viewpoint, in that Cuda is apparently fine with straight-up murdering people left, right and centre (and seemingly just for unpaid debts), but apparently draws the line at sex-trafficking 15 year old girls of his acquaintance, even though he’s spent his entire career being at least on the fringes of such criminal activity, if not actually directly involved. Consequently, the overly simplistic script makes look a lot like Cuda only does what he does because his daughter’s 16th birthday is coming up and he feels guilty about failing to reconnect with her, so he wants to rescue another 15 year old to make up for it.

Action-wise, the film pretty much delivers. Stray (real name Ricky, he sheepishly admits later) is set up as a street fighter, which gives Aria plenty of opportunity to get shirtless and throw lots of satisfyingly crunchy punches, while Banderas handles himself nicely too – the climactic fights are nicely staged, even if they resort to the same narrative tricks you’ve seen a hundred times.

Director Richard Hughes maintains a decent pace throughout and the film is heightened further by Callan Green’s neon-tinged cinematography and colour design. To that end, the film has a strong Miami flavour, so it comes as something of a shock to discover, during the end credits, that it was actually shot in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Ultimately, The Enforcer is well made enough to pass the time, but it’s too generic to make any kind of impact, and doesn’t develop its characters enough to stir up anything involving emotion or tension. Cool car though.