Alright its like there is not much to watch at the moment and Afterburn came out as another meh movie but with a few cool scenes its just that too much meh than anything else and its basically what you expect when Dave Batista and Samuel L Jackson show up on a poster together, lots of action, some explosions and a story that asks you not to think too hard about whats happening. A solar flare wipes out half the planet, borders dont exist anymore and now Batista plays Jake who has to grab the Mona Lisa for Jackson who somehow became the King of England, governments collapsed after the disaster, warlords run Europe now and Jake used to be a treasure hunter before everything went to hell. Now he still does the same job but the world looks like a cheaper version of Mad Max without the cool factor. Director JJ Perry did Day Shift and Killers Game before this, he worked as a stunt coordinator on John Wick so I would say the guy knows how to shoot action sequence but one thing is knowing stunts another is been a great director and this movie is proof of that. The action is fine, theres decent hand to hand combat, Jake fights through a train full of bad guys and that part actually works. You see blood when someone gets stabbed or shot witch is always good in my book. Theres a car chase with a tank and some explosions, Perry keeps the action in frame this time witch is better than some of his other work. Still the guy needs way more practice because scenes that should have tension just fall flat.
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The plot falls apart pretty quick, Jake gets hired by King August played by Samuel Jackson and yes we know Jackson is that kind of actor that brings hype into a movie but I feel like that is all he was to this production as he is barely here. Maybe fifteen or twenty minuets at most, he probably shot his scenes in a week and went home, just a quick buck and this is not his fault, probably easy money for him. August wants Jake to go to France and bring back the Mona Lisa from some secret storage place in paper looks and sounds easy except France got destroyed by the solar flares and now General Volk controls everything, a crazy warlord loves chess and killing people. The movie tries hard to make Volk scary but it dont work because we never understand what he wants, I truly doubt people would get mad for spoilers but the Mona Lisa isnt actually a painting, its a nuclear bomb with the Mona Lisa painted on it. August already has the real one so the whole mission was about getting this third atomic bomb from World War Two. Dont ask how that makes sense because the movie never explains why August wants it but the twist is supposed to be surprising but it just feels lazy, they could have done something interesting with this idea but instead they treat it like its no big deal.
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Batista does his thing were he punches people and tries to be funny but it feels forced, this is not Drax from Guardians with a great cast and script he can work out so good, instead this time he is alone and the script doesnt do him any favors, like they told him to act like do Drax again but he dont have that charm to pull it off. I have been a fan since the first time I saw him on the big screen because as a kid I saw him start at the WWE so I was some what familiar with him but he is not the type of actor that can take a meh script and carry the movie over his shoulders to make it something memorable, he is just not that guy. Here he is the lead and you see all his weak spots, his delivery is flat most of the time, the jokes dont land and the serious moments feel wooden. Olga Kurylenko plays Drea, she is part of some rebel group fighting Volk and helps Jake get to the facility. Shes way better than Batista in almost every scene and I wish she had more to do, her fight scenes are solid but most of the time she is just driving or shooting at stuff. The movie tries to set up romance between them but there is zero chemistry, they had this scene where they talk by a fire about paper boats and then suddenly at the end theyre in love sailing away together. It feels rushed like the writer checked a box on a list, we needed more time with these two together to believe they care about each other.
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The biggest problem is nothing feels like it matters, Jake dont have any real backstory except he wants a boat. We dont know if he had a family or what his life was before the world ended and without that context his journey feels empty, we are just watching a guy punch his way through obstacles, at the same time next to him Drea has even less going on, we never find out why she is in the rebellion or what she lost. The world building is lazy too, they say half the planet got destroyed but then you see people drinking cold beers at the end in a bar with electricity, I kept thinking were did those beers come from, did someone find a warehouse full of beer six years after everything went to shit. The logic falls apart if you think about it, like there is this part were Jake swims through a flooded tunnel and he is about to drown but then he just breaks a gate with his last bit of strength, like wtf is this the dopamine rush of "I dont want to die?" why didnt he try that earlier, stuff like this happens all the time were characters make dumb choices just to create fake drama.
The production design is decent for the type of Mad Max like end of the world scenes, they built cool sets and the world looks real enough. The train part at the end is probably the best, Jake fights through different cars taking out soldiers and it feels like there is stakes for a few minutes, doing what Bautista the wrester do the best, although he is not that big anymore, dont know why so many actors are falling into this wild transformations, must be a trend. Drea sets bombs on a bridge to blow up the train and there is a moment you think Jake might not make it. The final fight between Jake and Volk is fine, nothing special, Perry knows how to shoot it even if the moves arent anything were gonna remember. Volk falls and dies when the bridge explodes and Jake escapes with the device for the bomb its just that simple, its not me trying to short shift things. The ending tries to be happy were Jake gets his boat and sails off with Drea but it feels empty because of the little context and character build up as we spent two hours with these people and dont know much about them. Afterburn is not the worst action movie I have seen this year but its not good either. Its one of those movies you watch on a lazy day when there is nothing else after you have gone through all the channels in cable more than twice and you final stop at the one playing Afterburn. If your a huge Batista fan maybe you will like it but even then there are better movies were he does better, actually my favorite movie from him is "Knock at the Cabin (2023)" a movie that didnt do that great but its his part and the psychology behind it. I give Afterburn a 6 out of 10, its got some decent action but the story is predictable, characters are flat and the whole thing feels like a missed chance.
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