I own a goodly amount of low-budget, Lahnden-set actioners by producer Jonathan Southcott, and usually they are reliably bullet-shredded, if somewhat uninspired thug-soaked thrillers, with, perhaps, the sole exception being diamond geezer Danny Dyer's grisly chav-killer 'Vendetta'! The pacey, slick-looking 'Age of Kill' finds our gun grey, gun-happy glamourpuss hero Blake (Martin Kemp), a magnificently moody, dead-eyed government spook, renowned for his unusually keen marksmanship, and Martini cool demeanour in the diabolical midst of a maniacal terror plot, with his beloved daughter kidnapped by a prototypical terrorist psycho, resplendent in black bally, and a natty red boiler suit! The resourceful Blake must now undertake his deadliest mission thus far, heroically rescue his gobby progeny, protect some skinny brass (April Pearson), all the while keeping his immaculately coiffed barnet in perfect nick, which the cinematically studly Kemp does with enviable panache!
At its best, Neil Jones's 'Age of Kill' is pure, unfiltered Seagal tosh, and it even has its own spiffing, terse-sounding Seagal-esque moniker! While the tired text is frequently prosaic, the dynamically dashing, gimlet-eyed Martin Kemp appears wholly energized, making for a lean, handsome, sharp-shooting tough guy, while Patrick Bergin just seems happy to be working, the charisma-bypass Dani Dyer is, thankfully, barely in it, and Bruce 'Warlock' Payne is the least convincing prime minister since Boris Johnson! I dug it, and, to his credit, stolid actor Nick Moran delivers the film's most credible performance as the sleazy, smoothly sinister far-right rabble-rouser Roy Dixon. If, like me, you enjoyed J. K Amalou's equally formulaic Gary & Martin Kemp-starring gangster flick 'Assassin' you will know exactly what to expect here. (It might have been considerably more entertaining overall if they got someone from Sigue Sigue Sputnik to play the voicebox-gibbering villain, jus' sayin'!)
At its best, Neil Jones's 'Age of Kill' is pure, unfiltered Seagal tosh, and it even has its own spiffing, terse-sounding Seagal-esque moniker! While the tired text is frequently prosaic, the dynamically dashing, gimlet-eyed Martin Kemp appears wholly energized, making for a lean, handsome, sharp-shooting tough guy, while Patrick Bergin just seems happy to be working, the charisma-bypass Dani Dyer is, thankfully, barely in it, and Bruce 'Warlock' Payne is the least convincing prime minister since Boris Johnson! I dug it, and, to his credit, stolid actor Nick Moran delivers the film's most credible performance as the sleazy, smoothly sinister far-right rabble-rouser Roy Dixon. If, like me, you enjoyed J. K Amalou's equally formulaic Gary & Martin Kemp-starring gangster flick 'Assassin' you will know exactly what to expect here. (It might have been considerably more entertaining overall if they got someone from Sigue Sigue Sputnik to play the voicebox-gibbering villain, jus' sayin'!)