Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
Perfect Netflix action Friday night film, “The Debt Collector” is surprisingly fun, violent and entertaining. Scott Adkins headlines the film as the newbie debt collector partnering with hard man Louis Mandylor and the two plays off each other particularly well. Adkins is an martial arts star that I have a lot of time for, for every film big or small, he gives 110% in the stunts and fight scenes. In the day and age where most ageing action icons will take shortcuts and edits for most fight scenes, Adkins remains old school in his approach and the effect is allow the audience to see precisely what is happening and the fights gets much more bloody and realistic. That alone will ramp up the entertainment factor a notch or two.
Adkins shines whenever he is required to fight and trust me there are plenty of those as he roam from dodging bullets, pulled by a car to smashing the heads of bad guys in the way. What I liked about the film is that it never takes itself too seriously and when it gets serious, Mandlyor pulls off a tough scene about losing his child to cancer as he exposes his past story. Other supporting actors like Vladimir Kulich is convincing as the debt boss.
All in all, this film manages to entertain the quadrant of loyal martial arts fans and Adkins as usual produces the good far consistently than his older peers (i.e. Van Damme or Seagal). The effort shows and the result on screen provides the audience with a level of respect. At the end, this film is good for what it is worth and nothing more. For those expecting more, “Triple Threat” should hopefully fill the blockbuster void.
I rated it 6.5/10