‘Conquer: Lahad Datu’
An invasion of militants in the Malaysian state of Sabah causes the Royal Malaysia Police to dispatch an elite group of soldiers to quell the violence. The writer-director Zulkarnain Azhar’s film was inspired by the real-life Lahad Datu standoff in 2013, when a Filipino group tried to claim the contested area. The movie version is a charged, patriotic war flick whose large ensemble and jungle-set battles often recall Ridley Scott’s 2001 movie, “Black Hawk Down.”
Though there isn’t a true lead in this film, the Malaysian actors Syafiq Kyle and Kamal Adli as soldiers, and Eman Manan as Raja — the leader of the militant force — are standouts. The cinematography by Teck Zee Tan is also stellar, relying on evocative lens flares and rich blues to add style to this grungy war film. The climactic rescue of the hostages from boathouses under an intense barrage of shells is an enduring highlight.
‘Ferry 2’
Ferry Bouman (Frank Lammers), a former drug runner and enforcer, left the underworld not too long ago for a quiet life on the southeastern coast of Spain. It’s a restful, sunny existence until his teenage niece Jezebel (Aiko Beemsterboer) arrives with her boyfriend Jeremy (Tobias Kersloot). The pair are deep in debt to a savage drug lord named Lex (Jonas Smulders), and they need Ferry’s help. Lex will let them live if they produce 500,000 ecstasy pills within a week.
In the director Wannes Destoop’s “Ferry 2,” Ferry and Jezebel’s teenage friends band together to make the narcotics, avoid an assassin and dodge Ferry’s former squealing friend Dennis (Huub Smit). Destoop’s sequel is less an interrogation of Ferry’s troubled childhood and more about him rekindling a connection with his niece. In the film’s many indelible set pieces Ferry and Jezebel cook drugs on a boat, break into a police station and have a final shootout in a half-filled maze-shaped pool. It’s an oddly heartwarming familial tale with a side of violence.
‘No Way Up’
The Swiss director Claudio Fah’s survivalist disaster flick “No Way Out” asks: What if “The Poseidon Adventure” was set on a plane and included sharks?
Ava (Sophie McIntosh), the daughter of the governor of California, is traveling to Mexico with her friends Kyle (Will Attenborough) and Jed (Jeremias Amoore), and her bodyguard, Brandon (Colm Meaney). When their plane crashes and sinks into the Pacific Ocean, they have just enough oxygen to figure out their escape. Other survivors include the flight attendant Danilo (Manuel Pacific), as well as Mardy (Phyllis Logan) and her granddaughter Rosa (Grace Nettle).
The premise of a random group of people in peril is the primary spark of many action movies, but including sharks adds a whole other dimension. The editing doesn’t hide the underwater carnivore; instead the camera focuses on the shark’s full-bodied danger. McIntosh is equally forceful as the undaunted leader whose kicks toward the surface do not weaken, no matter how long the odds have become.
‘Place of Bones’
Pandora (Heather Graham), a widowed mother, and her daughter, Hester (Brielle Robillard), live a secluded life in a cabin in the western “Place of Bones,” directed by Audrey Cummings. Their loneliness is interrupted when Hester discovers a wounded man named Calhoun (Corin Nemec), a thief whose former gang, led by the bloodthirsty Bear John (Tom Hopper), is hot on his heels.
“Place of Bones” is one of two single-location action films in this week’s column: Nearly half the film is a standoff between the three people hiding inside the cabin and the conniving gang outside. In between wild shootouts, Pandora and Hester come to care for the foul-mouthed Calhoun. And while this blooming friendship and these gutsy gunfights provide heart and thrills, it’s an unlikely twist — taking the film to totally different terrain — that demonstrates how dangerous this mother and daughter can be.
‘Take Cover’
The director Nick McKinless’s “Take Cover” is a resourceful and modest action movie. It takes place mostly in a single location, a lavish hotel suite booked for a pair of assassins to relax before their next hit: the expert sniper Sam (Scott Adkins) and his laddish spotter Ken (Jack Parr). After two masseuses appear — Mona (Madalina Bellariu Ion) and Lily (Alba De Torrebruna) — a sniper on another skyscraper takes aim at the group. Sam, who is on the brink of leaving the business, must figure out how they all can escape.
The script by Joshua Todd James is filled with more F-bombs than bullets, and in between scenes of these characters cowering from whizzing shells, Adkins displays the bruising dexterity that’s made him an action star in films like “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Rousing wheelhouse kicks and exiting barrel rolls make this no-frills action flick a distinct take on the genre.
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