AVENGEMENT: A Brutal, Bone-Crunching Showcase For Scott Adkins’ Talents

Earlier this year, stuntman-turned-director Jesse V. Johnson released Triple Threat, a martial-arts actioner starring some of the best names in the ass-kicking business. While it did provide the requisite thrills, the film was not quite the blast of mayhem it should have been, preferring to stick to its overtly-political and elaborately twisty plot, resulting in an oddly lopsided feature. While satisfying overall, Triple Threat felt like an amuse-bouche to what could have been Johnson’s cinematic filet mignon, teasing greatness but never quite delivering.

Fortunately for us, Johnson returns to theatres a mere two months later with Avengement, and it’s a clear step in the right direction. While still spotty in the storytelling department, Avengement is a near non-stop thrill ride, a prison-set exploitation feature pared down to a vicious series of gritty beatdowns and pulverizing encounters. Johnson absolutely refuses to skimp on any of the action here, and he also benefits from the presence of Scott Adkins, who graduates from villain status to unflinching antihero, transforming himself into a one-man trauma center, eager to punish every last individual who had ever wronged him in this tremendous bruiser of a character piece.

Army of One

Cain Burgess (Scott Adkins) is a volatile man and hardened convict, rotting away on an extended prison sentence. While out on a furlough to visit his ailing mother, he unfortunately arrives moments too late, discovering that she has passed away while in transit to the hospital. Unwilling to take this news lightly, Cain subdues his armed escort and returns to his old haunts, looking to settle old scores.

Cain eventually makes his way to a clandestine pub, whereupon he takes all of its patrons hostage, knowing them to be in league with his elder brother, Lincoln (Craig Fairbrass), who may or may not have been responsible for his incarceration. While awaiting his brother’s arrival, Cain recounts the events in his life that brought him to this moment, detailing his time behind bars while swearing revenge against the very man ruined everything.

When we’re first introduced to Cain, he’s at the lowest ebb in his life. His face is a canvas of pain, sporting grotesque facial scarring and a metallic grill in his mouth, earned from years of abuse. Time on the inside has not been kind to Cain, rendering him physically damaged and emotionally unstable, with the death of his mother being the tipping point that sends him over the edge. The screenplay, credited to Johnson and Stu Small, wastes little time establishing urgency in Cain’s mission, springing him into action yet again.

Fractured Narratives, Fractured Skulls

Cain’s story is told largely out of sequence, maintaining much of the present-day action in the single pub setting, while flashbacks are utilized to detail his violent odyssey on the wrong side of the prison industrial complex. The reason for this fractured narrative isn’t immediately made clear, but Johnson does a commendable job balancing the moving parts, never allowing the non-linear momentum to slow down Cain’s journey.

The bulk of Avengement’s proceedings follow Cain’s time in prison, where acclimation is no easy feat. Threats against his life are made immediately, with the outnumbered brute soon suffering from shakings, a homemade napalm burning, and, in one gruesome sequence, has part of his jaw shattered on a steel staircase. It’s an immensely visceral experience that Johnson sells the stuffing out of.

Following Triple Threat’s lead, action choreography in Avengement is genuinely excellent, favoring wide, unbroken takes and ferocious bodily movements that are augmented by tight editing, not butchered by it. Cinematography by Jonathan Hall is slick as well, favoring steely blues of the prison interiors. But the real star of the show is Adkins, who brings an intense, animalistic ferocity to his performance. Not only does he sell his character’s dramatic arc superbly, but he carries the lion’s share of the fight choreography with savage aplomb. It’s an awesomely barbaric performance.

Avengement: Conclusion

Like Triple Threat, Avengement can get a little knotty in its plotting, revealing some late-inning twists regarding Cain’s criminal acts and imprisonment that don’t quite cohere in full. Luckily, these are minor nitpicks, as Johnson delivers a stunning climax that pits a dozen hulking thugs against Cain’s bloodthirsty antihero in a sequence of full-body demolition, ending on a bravura high note. As far as action cinema goes, Avengement is an absolute success, and I eagerly await to see what else Johnson has in store for us.

How about it? Does Avengement slot in nicely with the modern action cinema canon?

Avengement will be released in limited theaters in the U.S. on May 24, 2019.