It’s not so much a case of it’s marvellous what a difference Milo makes in the B grade grunt and jump and shoot em up, THE DEVIL’S MEN, but there’s a fair scoop of Aktavite in this play by numbers actioner.
Milo Gibson, son of Mel, stars as Jack Collins, a seasoned and scarred ex- Navy Seal, now operating as an assassin for the CIA.
As part of a three-man team, Collins is sent by his handler, an hysterical and hyper vexatious woman with dead daddy issues played by Sylvia Hoeks, to London and tasked with hunting down a disavowed CIA Operative before he procures a WMD from Russian gangsters.
But Collins discovers that a former colleague and a team of private soldiers are going to supply fierce competition to his mission and his mortal coil.
In his first lead role, Milo Gibson doesn’t have the screen charisma of his old man, coming across, at best, as a poor man’s Gerard Butler.
Actor vite kudos go to the villains of the piece here, with Joseph Millson displaying a decidedly deadly adversary as the former brother in arms, the deliciously designated, Deighton, a rough trade cream pie crumpet if ever there was one.
Elliot Cowan also does a nice turn in megalomaniacal maleficence as evil mastermind, the magnificently monikered, McKnight.
Gbenga Akkinagbe as Collins longest surviving colleague, Samuelson, brings sass and humour to his role. “I ain’t no bounty hunter, I’m a shadow warrior” he proudly proclaims.
And the eminently watchable William Fichtner notches up the interest with his peerless presence and professionalism.
Writer/director Matthew Hope says “The film is about a parallel war on terror, fought in the shadows where outsourced assassinations are carried out by private military contractors. It also deals with bounty hunters, their addiction to war, and the cost of that both personally and professionally. The action depicted in the film will show the combat-high experienced by these men
but also the reality of death.”
On that, Mr. Hope, mission accomplished.
All The Devil’s Men launches on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital
Wednesday February 6, 2019