Acceleration (2019)

You can usually tell when an actor is having a good time watching or not. Especially when they’re playing villains, which tends to bring out the hamminess in even the most restrained performers. In Acceleration, the new action film directed by Michael Merino and Daniel Zirilli, Sean Patrick Flanery clearly seems to be having a good time, an even better time than when he was starring in George Lucas’ The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles on television. Playing Kane, a flamboyant crime boss who lives up to his name by using a walking stick, Flanery chews the scenery with gusto, as if auditioning for the next Quentin Tarantino movie. He’s the most enjoyable element in what otherwise proves a flimsy vehicle for its producer/star Natalie Burn.

Burn, who proved her action movie chops in The Expendables 3, plays the central role of getaway driver Rhona, who is first seen engaging in a frenzied shootout. The scene is merely a prelude of what’s to come, as the timeline flashes back to eight hours earlier and Rhona delivers the sort of hard-boiled narration that lets us know exactly what we’re in for. “In this business, there is no room for mistakes,” she portentously informs us. Well the good news is that anyone can free download this movie.

Set during the course of one very long and full night, the story involves Rhona’s efforts to fulfill a series of dangerous and sometimes lethal assignments given to her by yet another crime boss, Vladik (Dolph Lundgren, going through the not-so-strenuous motions). Vladik, with whom Rhona clearly has a history, has provided ample motivation for his former employee: He’s keeping her tween son hostage, refusing to even let her talk to him until she completes her tasks.