Falcon Rising Dir. Ernie Barbarash

[Freestyle Digital Media; 2014]

Styles: DTV Action
Others: Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, Black Rain, Vengeance,

It’s hard to keep expectations in check when you’re about to see a film. Anticipation can easily lead to disappointment due to the lofty heights you thought were going to be hit. In fact, given enough distance from what you thought the film should be, you can even began to appreciate it as a middle-of-the-road, if flawed, piece. Going in to Falcon Rising, I did not have high expectations, but I did have some hopes for the film. Direct-to-Video (DTV) action flicks have been experiencing a surprising renaissance in the past few years. It’s mostly a few titles from a handful of filmmakers, but the works of John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Regeneration, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) and Isaac Florentine (Undisputed III: Redemption, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear) display ingenuity in staging of fight sequences, well-defined characterization, and even impressive shot composition and editing. These films also occasionally stray into innovative editing and narrative experiments — seriously, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning plays like The Expendables filtered through Lynch’s Wild at Heart. The directors are also utilizing incredibly talented stars to the best of their abilities, with the likes of Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White showing off their martial arts skills and their own natural charisma. These elements were in the back of my mind as a possibility when I was watching the mostly generic Falcon Rising. It’s not that expectations were high for this actioner, but that other filmmakers have proven that genre and budget aren’t an excuse for turning in mediocre films with little to differentiate them from hundreds of other middling projects.

Michael Jai White stars as John “Falcon” Chapman, a former marine who is dealing with some past trauma (never fully explained) by drinking, playing Russian roulette, making quips, and breaking up robberies in bodegas. When his sister (Laila Ali) is savagely beaten almost to death in Brazil, Chapman heads to the favelas to find out who’s responsible. It’s a fish out of water story but with lot more throat punching and spin kicking, as Chapman has to learn the lay of the land, contesting with a corrupt police force, widespread favela street gangs, and even the local Brazilian Yakuza franchise (complete with a guy who loves katanas).

Falcon Rising has many great elements that are constantly undercut by generic editing, lazy plotting and characterization, and a bald desire to kickstart a franchise. Whenever the film is not focusing on White — specifically on White beating up gangs of goons — it feels muddled and unmemorable. White is such a charismatic star that he’s able to elevate the sub-par dialogue through his energy alone, and then proves more than capable of selling the various fight sequences. One element that tends to always be great in DTV action type films is that they focus on capturing the fights well in camera. The makers of these films — Falcon Rising included — know that is what people came to see, and they also know their stars have the martial art skills needed to sell the combat — there is no quick cutting or shaky-cam nonsense but instead well-choreographed fights that are easy to follow and that inform viewers where everyone is in relation to each other and their surroundings. It sounds like a given, but it shows that the filmmakers actually care about the work of their actors, stunt men, choreographers, as well as use the fights to tell a story instead of just spike the tension.

Unfortunately, outside of those five or six fight sequences, the rest of the camera work and editing gets sloppy. Clichéd shots of Christ the Redeemer overshadowing Rio smash cut into the happy street urchins enjoying soccer in their washed out streets. There is one moment in which director Ernie Barbarash seems intent on outdoing the Michael Bay 360 degree shot of circling around the main actors in the scene for what feels like an eternity (I believe it’s at least a 720 before the sequence is finished). Neal McDonough is completely wasted as Chapman’s old army buddy who essentially drives him around places. McDonough has shown an ability for energetic, manic performances in works like Ravenous and episodes of Justified. It’s a shame his most action packed moment in this film is zooming in on a photo on his laptop.

There’s always a sense of “well what did you expect?” from films of certain genres. As long as they fulfill certain quotas or tick off specific elements, most people assume that it’s fine. Falcon Rising is fine, unfortunately. It had elements that could cohere to become interesting, not least the inherent disparity between the American hero taking on a Japanese threat in a Brazilian city. Furthermore, other filmmakers have taken similar material centered on talented action heroes like Michael Jai White, and turned in something truly new and remarkable. There is no innovation in Barbarash’s film, or anything that sets it apart from a myriad other one man army movies that have come before it. I didn’t have expectations for this film, just a few hopes that it would be another bold gem in the quiet DTV renaissance. Here’s to hoping that, if the filmmakers get their blatant wish for another installment of this franchise, they deliver a film worthy of its star.

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