When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Director: John Stockwell
Writers: James Robert Johnston, Bennett Yellin
Stars: Gina Carano, Cam Gigandet, Danny Trejo |
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
In The Blood Muvie Reviews
IN THE BLOOD': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
MMA fighter turned action movie star Gina Carano plays the lead in this crime thriller directed by John Stockwell (who's directed other popular B movies like 'BLUE CRUSH' and 'INTO THE BLUE'). It was written by James Robert Johnston and Bennett Yellin (the duo also wrote the horror movie sequel 'JOY RIDE 2: DEAD AHEAD') and tells the story of a recently married woman, with a violent past, who's husband goes missing on the couple's Caribbean honeymoon (after he has a freak zip-lining accident). It costars Cam Gigandet, Luis Guzman, Danny Trejo, Amaury Nolasco, Stephen Lang, Treat Williams and Ismael Cruz Cordova. It's not as good as Carano's first venture into leading lady action flick status ('HAYWIRE') but it is surprisingly well made and effective.
Carano plays Ava, a skilled fighter who was raised to be an emotionless killing machine, by her abusive father (Lang). With her marriage to Derek (Gigandet) she's hoping to leave that life behind but it of course haunts her once again, when the couple goes honeymooning in the Caribbean. First they get into a bar fight with a local crime boss, named Big Biz (Trejo), and his men. Then Derek has an accident, while the two are zip-lining, and goes missing on his way to the hospital. Ava will stop at nothing to find out what happened to him; even when the police, lead by Chief Ramon Garza (Guzman), are useless.
The movie is surprisingly intense and brutally violent. It's well written (for a B movie), with plenty of surprising twists, and decently directed too, by Stockwell. The cast is all impressive (for a film like this) especially Carano though. I'm really interested in seeing her continue to pursue this action movie career and I think she's off to a great start. Her part in 'FAST & FURIOUS 6' was a bit too small (and wasted her talents) but with this flick, and 'HAYWIRE', I think she's really making a name for herself (as an action movie star). It would have been really cool to see her play Wonder Woman, in the upcoming 'JUSTICE LEAGUE' franchise, she's already dating Superman (Henry Cavill)!
