‘Long Gone Heroes’ VOD Review
Stars: Frank Grillo, Eden Brolin, Melissa Leo, Andy Garcia, Mekhi Phifer, Beau Knapp, George Carroll, Josh Hutcherson, Juan Pablo Raba | Written by John Swab, Santiago Manes Moreno | Directed by John Swab
Long Gone Heroes marks the fifth collaboration between director John Swab and actor Frank Grillo beginning with Body Brokers and most recently One Day as a Lion. They might not be great cinema, but they’ve been well enough received, and more importantly, they’ve proven popular enough that they keep getting money to make more of them.
This time out, Grillo plays Gunner, ex-special forces, ex-husband, and all the other usual exes. His niece Julia (Eden Brolin; Yellowstone, Blood Bound) is a journalist working on a story about a group violating US sanctions and bringing Venezuelan oil into the country. This gets her grabbed by some very dangerous people.
Complicating matters further is that her mother Olivia (Melissa Leo; The Clean Up Crew, Ida Red) is not only a US senator, but one of the people who set the operation up, supposedly to keep the Russians and Chinese from getting the oil. Unfortunately, Roman (Andy Garcia; 5 Days of War, The Godfather Part III) and Moreao (Mekhi Phifer; Lights Out, Dawn of the Dead) seem to have gone rogue.
The script by Swab and Santiago Manes Moreno (Of Love and Lead, Alfred Hitchcock’s Gun) who was originally announced as the director doesn’t waste a lot of time in getting Gunner, two of his associates West (Beau Knapp; American Skin, Death Wish), and Matty (George Carroll; Let Me Make You a Martyr, Girl House) into Venezuela. And, in keeping with the template for films like this, the fourth member of their squad, their tech guy, is busy fighting in Ukraine, so they bring along his son David (Josh Hutcherson; The Disaster Artist, The Beekeeper).
Long Gone Heroes certainly lives up to the long part of its title, running just over two hours. And that’s kind of a good thing because the film is nearly half over before we get any action. We do get some grim images, such as our introduction to Guapo (Juan Pablo Raba; The 33, Hotel Cocaine), their contact in Venezuela. He’s sitting casually eating cake in the midst of a kid’s party turned into a slaughterhouse by Moreao and his men.
The film saves most of the fireworks for the second half, as our heroes have to fight their way through Caracas to reach the boat that will take them out of the country so that they can indeed be long-gone heroes. Here it delivers plenty of gunfights, explosions and a fight between Gunner and Moreao who, it should come as no surprise, have some unpleasant history between them. Cinematographer Brandon Cox (Marauders, The Phoenix Incident) does a good job of capturing the action and enhancing the feeling of potential danger hidden in the city’s crowds.
It’s a familiar enough plot, with good guys are equal parts stoic and heroic, and villains who are irredeemably evil monsters, killing children and casually setting people on fire. It’s the kind of “South of the Border” action film that was extremely popular during the VHS era, and Long Gone Heroes frequently feels like a throwback to like Mission: Kill, Rage to Kill and Striker that lined the shelves of the local video store back in the day.
And like those films, Long Gone Heroes would have played a bit better if it came in closer to ninety minutes than at a hundred and twenty-four minutes. While it never really drags, the first hour spends a bit too much time telling us what a shithole Venezuela has turned into. That’s something anyone whose paid attention to the news at any point in the last few years already knows. A reminder, not a lecture, would have been all we needed.
But apart from that, Long Gone Heroes is a solid action film with a cast that knows what they need to do and get it done convincingly. It’s nothing earthshaking, but it’s better than a lot of films in its class.
***½ 3.5/5
Lionsgate have released Long Gone Heroes on VOD and Digital Platforms.
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